with a little love and sunshine
by awintea
Summary: oshitari&oc / Sometimes, Takahashi Akiko thinks that life is good. Then, Oshitari Yuushi shows up.
1. beginning

A disclaimer: If you recognise something, it's not mine. For example: Oshitari? Not mine. Hibiya Park? Not mine. Chapter titles? Not mine. Now keep reading and carry on!

And a note to the anonymous reviewer: actually, no, I do mean die. Please look first at the singular of the word dice and then the phrase 'alea iacta est'.

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><p><strong>with a little love and sunshine<strong>

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><p>Takahashi Akiko was blessed with many things. However, modesty was not one of them.<p>

That was why, when her homeroom teacher said that the reason nobody wanted to be in the health committee was because nobody felt they could do it, Akiko's immediate response was to raise her hand and volunteer because there was no way that she would let something like that pass disregarded.

That had been at the beginning of April. Looking back, she felt like she had been duped, but the die had been cast – Akiko had already moved forward three spaces to Yet-Another-Kid-is-Skipping-Class Land. Seriously, it felt like half the school was holed up in the infirmary at times and the other half was out of it only because there was no room for them.

Didn't anybody have scholastic integrity anymore?

'Need a plaster!' somebody shouted, sliding the door open with a bang at the same time. Akiko just sighed, picked up a plaster and held it out behind her without turning around from her seat.

She could be doing any number of things right now. Finishing her reading for next week's English class, doing revision for maths...

Actually, those were the only two she could think of off the top of her head, but they were still far more desirable than sitting around the infirmary while the actual nurse chatted up the secretary over in the office.

Akiko despised the school nurse.

Back to her complaint about people skipping class. They were being completely inconsiderate of students who might actually need medical care.

'Hello?'

'What?' she exclaimed, turning her head around to look at the owner of the disruptive voice. What she found was a short young man with hair the colour of cherry cough medicine, which meant –

'That's not a plaster. That's a sweet wrapper.'

– he was Mukahi Gakuto, and Oshitari Yuushi could not be far behind.

She was about to say that no, she wasn't holding a sweet wrapper because she had taken the plaster straight from the box of plasters to her right, when she looked down and noticed that she was indeed holding a sweet wrapper.

Inwardly fuming at the nurse – the plaster box was _not_ a rubbish bin! – she put the wrapper into the appropriate receptacle and quickly handed over a real plaster.

Now get out, she thought as loudly as she could, because Akiko really did not want to have to deal with Mukahi's other half. It was almost five o' clock in the afternoon on a Friday, and she had had a really long week so far. Wouldn't somebody just grant her this one wish?

Obviously, whatever deities had been listening were too busy playing heavenly billiards or something to do anything helpful, so Akiko tried her best not to look too aggravated when Oshitari Yuushi sauntered into the room.

'Gakkun, have you got – oh, it's you, Takahashi. You're looking particularly stunning today.' The dark-haired young man was smirking in that infernal way of his that Akiko's classmates seemed to find ridiculously endearing, but to Akiko –

Well.

To be entirely honest.

It was a little endearing. Oshitari had good looks – she had to give him that.

But it didn't change the fact that behind that smirk was a rakish boy who had a very nice spot on Akiko's list of People Who Annoy Her (and it was a _very_ long list), so she settled for a terse nod as a reply. That was almost being polite – she could have said something like 'Your presence bothers me, so could you leave?' or 'And you're being particularly a pain today – so what?' but she didn't. As a representative of class 3A, she had to be on her best behaviour.

However, it was obvious that Oshitari didn't exactly appreciate her efforts to be civil, because he gave her a funny look. Not ha-ha funny but is-something-wrong-with-you funny.

'What is it?' she asked impatiently, because if they had nothing else they needed they could head on out. She had work to do – a whole pile of paperwork, actually, that the nurse had conveniently forgotten to finish during the day, and oh, Akiko was so responsible, so couldn't she just help him out? Just this once (and the six other times she had already done it – she was keeping a tally) and then he would never ask her to do it again!

Akiko _really_ despised the school nurse.

While she had been giving running internal commentary about the nurse and his bad habits, Oshitari had been saying something or another, and he was still talking now.

'So what do you think?'

Akiko tried to think of a suitable response, but there really wasn't one since she hadn't been even remotely paying attention. 'What do I think about what?'

Another funny look, and then:

'Would you like to join the beautification committee?'

After pausing to make it look like she was thinking about it, she replied, very succinctly, 'No.'

Then she turned back to her paperwork, because she wanted to be back at home some time tonight and there was as little chance of the nurse's coming back to help as there was of Akiko's skiing in hell.

'Give it up, Yuushi.' Mukahi apparently felt like he had the need to pipe up. 'Takahashi's obviously too busy with her own stuff to join anything – there's no way she'd be able to finish all her duties here and still have time to garden afterwards.'

_There's no way she'd be able to – _

'I'll do it,' Akiko interjected before anybody else could speak.

'Are you sure, Takahashi?' Oshitari had an eyebrow raised, and if that wasn't just insulting –

'There's no problem.' She swivelled around in her chair. 'Obviously I'll have to talk to the nurse first and ask if I can just push my committee duties here until after beautification committee meetings, but there's no problem at all.' After all, she was the only one who took health committee seriously, so the nurse totally did not have the right to complain.

'Thanks,' Oshitari replied, in that Kansai accent of his, and then he started saying how the teacher had told him to ask her since she was somebody that the teacher, as a member of the school faculty, could depend on, and that he was sure the students on the beautification committee would really appreciate her help since they had just lost a member.

Akiko waited until he had stopped talking, and asked, maybe a bit pointedly, 'Is that all?' She gestured at the door. 'I'm sure you're both really busy, so...'

'Yeah, Yuushi; we should get back to practice.' Mukahi held up his hand in some sort of wave before ducking out. Oshitari, however, lingered.

'Takahashi – ' The bespectacled boy said her name, only to stop. His mouth closed, and it was like he wanted to say something but didn't think it would be appropriate, and well, that was just spineless. If he had something to say, he should have just spat it out.

However, she wasn't going to prompt him to stay more, since that would just make him stick around longer. 'Mukahi-san is waiting, Oshitari-san.'

He nodded, looking strangely dissatisfied. 'I'll see you around then, Takahashi.' He left, closing the door behind him. Almost immediately, Akiko heard him call out to Mukahi – they were probably heading back to tennis practice.

Good riddance.

Just as she was going to finally get back to her work, the door slid open again and her homeroom teacher walked in, beaming. 'Takahashi! I've got something I want to ask you.'

'If it's about beautification committee, Ichiki-sensei, I've already agreed to take part,' she informed him. 'Oshitari-san came around to ask me to join just a moment ago.'

'So that's why he was here!' Ichiki-sensei said with a laugh. 'I was worried he had gotten himself injured – the boys in tennis club get up to the craziest antics.'

Akiko had no idea what sorts of antics they got up to that could be so crazy, but she just nodded, wondering if that was all her teacher had to say.

'Well, the committee is having meetings outside of school this weekend for research – each of the pairs of representatives is going to visit different parks and gardens and look for ways to make Hyoutei even better than it is already. You are going to be going to...' Ichiki-sensei paused, pulling his mobile out of his pocket. 'Here, I've got the other class rep's contact details, so...'

Akiko held up a pen. 'What's the number?'

Her teacher started. 'You're not going to put it into your phone?'

'Well, I don't have one with me now, so – '

Taking the pen from her, Ichiki-sensei quickly jotted the number on the top page of her pile of paperwork. In pen. Indelible pen. Indelible permanent black pen.

'Sensei, you just wrote on paperwork that I have to do for Kisaichi-sensei!' She stared at the offensive numbers, willing them to disappear with her mind.

Ichiki-sensei just shrugged, since apparently he didn't understand how grave the situation was. 'Relax, Takahashi; it's no big deal. Kisaichi-sensei's not even going to look over them anyway, you know. After you leave he's just going to stick it in that black hole he calls a filing cabinet.

Akiko sighed, because she knew it was true – she was well acquainted with the filing cabinet.

'Call the number when you have the time, OK? Arrange some time to go on your little date, and really – ' Ichiki-sensei patted her on the head ' – thanks a bunch, Takahashi.' Then her homeroom teacher was off, leaving Akiko with vandalised paperwork and untidy hair and a growing feeling of displeasure directed towards the school staff.

.

'Takahashi-sama, welcome home. If I may take your bags?'

Akiko smiled a little wearily at the concierge, who had already walked out from behind the counter. 'I'll be fine today, but thanks, Gotou-san. Actually...' She fished a small piece of paper from her pocket, and handed it over to the stately young man. 'Could you call this number for me? I need to arrange a meeting for tomorrow; any time will be fine.'

'Where will this rendezvous be taking place?'

She thought for a moment before making a reply. 'Whoever's on the other end of the phone will know already. Just say it's Takahashi Akiko, about tomorrow's beautification committee date. Buzz me when everything's done?'

'Understood, Takahashi-sama,' Gotou said with a deep bow. 'Please enjoy the rest of your evening.'

She took the elevator up, looking at the mirrored doors as she smoothed out her school uniform. Her hair was still a bit rumpled after Ichiki-sensei's assault, but she'd fix that once she got a comb and a mirror. Sometimes, Ichiki-sensei just got on her nerves – he was too cheerful and too friendly. He treated all the students like his pals and while clearly the rest of her classmates enjoyed that, resulting in the affectionate nicknames 'Icchan' from the boys and 'Icchan-sensei' from the girls, she preferred authority figures who were a bit more professional.

Letting herself into her apartment, she was immediately greeted by her dog, and a smile broke out on her face for the first time that day. 'Bagel! Miss me?' The fairly large red Akita Iku looked up at her with dark eyes, and Akiko gave her furry companion a pat on the head. 'Today's been a long day – wanna eat dinner?' Suddenly, the phone rang.

Slipping out of her shoes quickly, she ran over to the living room, picking the cordless phone up from the side table. Behind her, Bagel trotted along gracefully. 'Hello; Takahashi speaking.'

'Takahashi-sama, this is Gotou. Appointment details for tomorrow have been decided.'

'Oh? What time?'

'Ten o'clock. Your classmate will be picking you up at reception; he insisted on it.'

'Thanks, Gotou-san.'

'It was my pleasure, Takahashi-sama.'

She hung up, and turned back to Bagel. 'Now – who's up for something to eat? We've got some fish leftover from yesterday that I have to fry up anyway.' Satisfied that food was coming, Bagel went to sleep on the sofa as Akiko went to the kitchen.

As she washed the rice, she wondered about why one of the committee members had dropped out. After all, it was already September – if the member had wanted to drop out, why wait until half of the year was over before doing it? This was just the kind of half-heartedness that Akiko disliked the most.

Hopefully, whoever she met up with tomorrow would be more responsible.

.

It was already nine minutes past ten. Akiko would give the other class rep one more minute, and then she was going to return to her apartment. She'd already gone for her morning run with Bagel, but she still needed to go to the supermarket and pick up foodstuffs for later and this was disrupting her plans.

'Takahashi!'

'Took you long enough – ' she started to say, only to see who it was who had spoken up.

Oshitari was smirking at her from the apartment entrance.

'Oshitari-san, what on earth are you doing here?' she demanded. Behind her, she heard Gotou stifle an exhalation – was he surprised by her outburst?

Oshitari just continued smirking. 'To pick you up, of course – or have you forgotten our date?'

'What date?' she asked in the same tone she had used earlier. 'I don't remember – '

And then she realised.

'Wait – _you're_ the other beautification committee member?'

With a slight bow, Oshitari replied, 'At your service, other class rep. Shall we get to it? Hibiya Park isn't going to examine itself.'

It was at this point that Akiko realised that she had once again been duped. That didn't mean she had to go along with this happily, so when Oshitari proffered his hand, Akiko brushed past it brusquely and marched out the door. That didn't seem to deter Oshitari, who just followed her out. When she looked back, he was still smirking.

Hyoutei had better become the prettiest and healthiest school in all of Japan after all the effort she was putting into it.

.

.

.

**1. the point in time or space at which something starts.  
><strong>

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><p>Just as a warning, I tend to spell things British-yCanadian-y, use single quotation marks and abuse the spaced en dash. (: This does not include ShinPuri because I am not reading it. Please review because these are uncharted waters for me and any form of direction would be very helpful. -awin**  
><strong>


	2. groundwork

Here is chapter two. Updates will probably not be this quick here on in. Sadly, that matches the pace of this story, which is less a multi-chaptered story and more a collection of vaguely related incidents. Once again, I own nothing. I am the equivalent of a hobo in terms of possession. Please read on!

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><p><strong>with a little love and sunshine<strong>

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><p>'So, Takahashi – how was your date?'<p>

Akiko looked up from her lunch to see the smiling face of her homeroom teacher metaphorically two centimetres from her own. Literally, it was about two feet, but that didn't have as much impact, and two feet and two centimetres were really about the same when compared to the distance that should have been between the two – namely, at least two metres and hopefully more. Maybe like twenty. She couldn't just ignore her teacher until he went away though, so she said, 'Ichiki-sensei, I'm eating.'

'No you're not,' he replied genially. 'You're talking to me. I just want to check up on my newest beautification committee member before I head off for lunch.'

'Your newest – Ichiki-sensei, are you the teacher in charge?' Akiko couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

The brown-haired teacher nodded, grinning. 'What – you don't think I'm the type of guy who'd be the head of the beautification committee?'

Actually, Akiko just didn't think that Ichiki-sensei was the type of guy who'd be in charge of anything, but she kept her mouth shut and just watched with a stiff upper lip as her teacher sat down on the desk in front of her. Or well, she tried, but the disregard for the rules was too flagrant. 'You realise, sensei, that sitting on desks is prohibited.'

Ichiki-sensei just waved aside her concerns. 'Are you just trying to avoid answering my question? 'Cause you're doing a very good job of it.'

'I'm not trying to avoid – ' She paused; she couldn't find the right words to express her indignation. 'Ichiki-sensei, you're the one avoiding the issue about sitting on desks!'

'Still haven't answered my question, Takahashi!' And now he was swinging his dangling legs like a gigantic toddler.

With a sigh, Akiko replied, 'Productive. Our outing was very productive, Ichiki-sensei.'

'That's good then! I'm happy to hear that you and Oshitari are working well together.' He patted her on the head and slid off the desk before adding, 'Be sure to share all your productive info at the meeting!'

Akiko watched as Ichiki-sensei strolled out the door while whistling. It must be nice to be so carefree, she decided, before turning her attention back to her lunch. Her mushroom rice was going to have to wait though, since another interruption in the form of a Kansai-ben-speaking glasses-wearing philandering reprobate had come.

That description might have been a little bit harsh, but really, Akiko wasn't inclined to be kind after what had been a completely terrible Saturday. On the scale of 'that was pretty bad' to 'just kill me so I never have to remember this experience again', last Saturday wasn't even on the scale and was more like 'God, I've repented for my sins so please let me out of this inferno'.

She could think more about how awful it was now, but that would lead her down a very scary road and there was still the problem that was Oshitari to address. 'Do you need something?' she asked, before Oshitari even had a chance to speak up. She saw him walking over already, so there was no point in delaying the inevitable. Might as well get it over with quickly.

The bespectacled young man was now standing in front of her desk, which meant that she had to crane her head up in order to look at him. 'Productive?' he repeated.

'Yes,' she said, leaving out the part about how her classmate had hit on not one, not two, but three giggling housewives while she had been studiously noting down the nicest aspects of Hibiya Park. He'd also ended up with the numbers of four girls – one of the girls was from middle school, and the other three were from high school. She knew this because she recognised the uniforms the girls were wearing, though all that proved was that Oshitari at least wasn't picky about the girls he flirted with. Was he trying to fill out a bingo card or something of girls from different schools? 'Cause if the middle was a free space, he might have already won. And that was assuming that this wasn't a regular occurrence for him and that he hadn't already won the schoolgirl jackpot.

'Takahashi, are you listening?'

'What?' She snapped out of her reverie. 'Sorry.'

'I said, is "productive" really all you have to say about our date on Saturday?' Now he was peering down at her over his glasses like some sort of librarian or studious schoolboy character from a shoujo manga.

'First of all,' she replied without even the slightest drop of vitriol, 'it wasn't a date. Yes, we went out. Yes, the word date has the denotation of a meeting. However, in modern Japanese it has the connotation of a romantic rendezvous and it definitely wasn't that. And well, I could explain why it was productive to you but I was going to save that for the meeting.'

And Oshitari had the nerve to sit where Ichiki-sensei had been sitting earlier. He had to have heard her telling Ichiki-sensei not to sit on the desk, but here Oshitari was, sitting on the desk. 'I've got time now, so...' He did some sort of gesture with his hand which Akiko was obviously supposed to take as an indication to talk more. It could have just as easily been taken as a sign that there was a fly in the room though, so she chose to take it as that.

'Is there a bug flying around or something, Oshitari-san? If you didn't notice, I'm eating lunch now, so...' She let her voice trail off as Oshitari's had earlier.

'What a coincidence – so am I.' Where had that lunchbox come from and why was Oshitari holding it? 'We can talk over lunch, can't we?'

'I can't think of a reason why not.' She really couldn't. Suddenly she wasn't really in the mood to eat her mushroom rice anymore, and that was just a shame. It was really good mushroom rice.

'So. Your productiveness. Tell me about it.' There Oshitari went, speaking in his Kansai-ben which was a little bit sexy but really just annoying. He smiled at her (by which she meant that he smirked, since Oshitari Yuushi was clearly incapable of actually smiling at anyone) as he held an egg roll in between chopsticks. Why wasn't he bothering Mukahi instead? She looked over at the redhead, who noticed her glance and grinned at her, with two thumbs up. Obviously, no help was going to be coming from him.

Taking a stack of index cards out from her schoolbag, Akiko flipped through them until she found a good starting point. 'The incorporation of open space at Hibiya Park is something we should replicate at Hyoutei – '

Oshitari interrupted her, even though he had been the one to ask Akiko to speak in the first place. 'Are you reading off an index card?'

'Do you have a problem with that?' More eyebrow raising on her part. She was on a roll today.

'Why are you reading off an index card?' Oshitari sounded sceptical, though she really didn't understand why.

He probably wasn't going to leave if she didn't reply though, so she continued, while realigning the edges the index cards. 'I want to be able to express myself well at the meeting, and index cards will help me do that. I'm going to do this properly even if I don't enjoy it.'

'Do you dislike me that much?'

Akiko looked at Oshitari. Really looked. Because he had said that playfully, and his corners of his lips were turned up, but he hadn't sounded like he was joking. What was going on? And how on earth was she supposed to answer? She'd been trying to pass her days as a middle school student as quietly as possible, and declaring hatred for one of the boys' tennis club regulars definitely wasn't one of the recipes in that cookbook. To continue the cooking metaphor, it'd definitely be unnecessary pot stirring – even if she disliked most everybody in the school, it didn't mean she had to tell them that. Her life would be a living hell, and not in a dreadful Saturday date sort of way. Middle school girls could be just plain _mean_.

'**TAKAHASHI. TAKAHASHI AKIKO.**'

For a moment, she thought Oshitari was yelling at her because she hadn't replied, but no – it was the PA system.

'**TAKAHASHI AKIKO IS NEEDED AT THE SCHOOL INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY. DROP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND GET OVER HERE.**'

Never before had Akiko been so grateful for the school nurse Kisaichi-sensei's complete and utter lack of school etiquette. Actually, she had never been even remotely grateful for it before, but it was definitely more than welcome in this situation.

'Sorry – gotta go!' And she left, but not before slapping the lid on her lunchbox and bringing it with her. No reason that one of Kisaichi-sensei's ridiculous requests should stop her from getting proper nutrition.

.

Walking briskly down the halls, Akiko reached the infirmary in record time. Kisaichi-sensei's mop of dyed blond hair was waiting for her.

'Yo, Takahashi! Brought a friend?' Kisaichi-sensei nodded at something to her right. 'Well, anyway, I got a date to catch – I mean that literally – so keep an eye out. If a kid comes around saying he's sick just stick him in a bed. There's some paperwork on the desk too if you get bored.' Without even waiting for Akiko's reply, he ran off, but not before patting her on the head. Was there something about her hair that made her teachers want to ruin it? It was especially bad from Kisaichi-sensei, since he was so ridiculously tall that when he patted her head it made her feel like she was a pet dog that'd just learnt how to fetch.

Wait.

Why had Kisaichi-sensei nodded to her right? And what had he meant by 'a friend'?

Apprehensively, Akiko turned her head, and immediately afterwards, she wished that she hadn't.

'Is he really going on a date?' Like he had a reason to be there, Oshitari was standing beside her and talking. Again. Had she stepped on some small god last week? Because that was the only explanation she could think of for why Oshitari kept on talking to her, and there had been that one tortoise she sort of accidentally kicked while running on Friday. Anyway, Oshitari was staring off in the direction Kisaichi-sensei had gone with something like wonder – probably wondering if he could get away with having a lunchtime date himself.

'Why are you here?' Akiko demanded.

'I said that we could talk over lunch. Can't really do that if you're not there, Takahashi,' said the ever infernal Oshitari. His logic was actually sound, too, so she couldn't really rebut. 'It's OK if we eat in the infirmary, isn't it?'

She would have liked to say no, but since Kisaichi-sensei did it all the time... With any luck, Oshitari would catch an airborne disease and then she wouldn't have this problem anymore.

Influenza would be nice.

Or the plague.

She slid open the door and stepped to the side. Flatly, she said, 'Welcome to the school infirmary.'

Because Oshitari had this strange belief that he can just waltz on in wherever he liked, that was exactly what he did, crossing the threshold like he was the one who was the school infirmary committee member and not Akiko. Sitting down on the chair Akiko usually sat on, he asked, 'So – anything I can help with, nurse-in-training?'

'You can start by not calling me that, and getting out of my chair,' she told him, arms crossed as she followed him inside. She made sure to close the door behind her. 'I can't get any work done if you're in my way.'

Oshitari obliged, relocating to one of the beds. 'Shouldn't you have more than one chair in here though? Since the school nurse – '

'Kisaichi-sensei,' Akiko interrupted, 'is not in the school infirmary enough to even warrant a second chair, which is probably why most of the students don't even know his name and why the school infirmary committee pretty much consists of just me and a bunch of other people who never bother showing up. When he's even at school – which isn't often – he's in the office chatting up whichever secretary he's got his eye on this week, which leaves me – ' she slammed her lunchbox down next to the Mt Fuji of paperwork ' – with this.'

Oshitari said thoughtfully, 'Now that you say it, I really don't see him around much. Who's he on a lunch date with today?'

'How should I know?' Akiko exclaimed. 'All I know is that he won't even wear proper school attire. He has dyed blond hair and an earring. Not two earrings, but one. And he dresses like he's some hooligan!'

'Did you just use the word "hooligan" out loud?'

'Just last week he came to school in a sports car – this noisy red one with no roof – and he called out to me and told me to "hold the fort" for him and drove off! I don't even know why he hasn't been fired yet.'

'Well, those decisions have to go by the headmaster – ' Oshitari suddenly snapped his fingers. 'That's it.'

'What's it?' she snapped, her tone still tinged with residual annoyance.

Oshitari leant forward, elbow on his knees. In a voice barely above a whisper, he said, 'He must be sleeping with the headmaster.'

'What?' If Akiko could see her own face, she was sure she wouldn't recognise it because she had never felt her face contort into this extreme limit of incredulity before. 'You've got to be kidding.'

'It makes sense, doesn't it?' Oshitari propped his head up with a hand, and his glasses glinted under the fluorescent light. 'Why else would ... Kisaichi-sensei? That's his name right?' Akiko nodded. 'Why else would Kisaichi-sensei still have a job here? If he's everything you say he is, it makes no sense. He's got to be sleeping with the headmaster.'

'You realise that the headmaster is a sixty-something-year-old man, right?'

'Which makes it all the more _scandalous_.'

Akiko couldn't help but roll her eyes. 'Oshitari-san, if you're just going to gossip, please leave.'

...is what she intended to say. Really. But what came out of her mouth instead was this:

'Plus, if he is having a so-called homosexual relationship, it's definitely with Ichiki-sensei.'

'What?' Oshitari brought a hand in mock surprise to cover his mouth. 'No_._'

'Haven't you noticed that they're always together? I mean when Kisaichi-sensei isn't off romancing the prettiest girl that walks through the door every morning.' She sat on her swivel chair and spun it around to face Oshitari; she hadn't noticed that she was pacing until now. 'Like after school they always leave together and I saw the two of them boarding together at Suidobashi station once – plus they have the same mannerisms! They always pat me on the head like I'm a puppy or something!'

'Oh yeah, I've noticed that,' Oshitari commented, looking all contemplative as he ran a hand through his hair.

Akiko ignored him – she was on a roll. 'They don't care about their students' personal space at all! It's like they don't understand that there are certain rules for teacher-student relations or like they do understand them and go deliberately out of their way to break them. I'm pretty sure there's something in there that says you shouldn't physically touch your students, but no – they think it's fun to make the top of my head look like a bird's nest and then I have to go and retie my ponytail.'

'You know,' Oshitari opined, 'if you hate it so much, you could just complain to somebody.'

'And make people think I'm too incompetent to deal with something like this?' She shook her head. 'No way.'

'People wouldn't judge you for something like that,' Oshitari replied with a chuckle.

Akiko didn't see what was so funny. 'Really? Because I know I would.'

Oshitari looked at her like she was some sort of alien life form, and Akiko was about to ask why when the bell rang and she still hadn't finished eaten her lunch. On that note, neither had Oshitari – he hadn't even brought his lunchbox. What had he been thinking?

...

What had she been thinking?

She had just spent all lunch having her first actual conversation with Oshitari Yuushi. And not even a normal conversation – she'd been the one talking for most of the time, ranting about two of the staff. What had happened to wanting to live quietly as a middle school student? Oshitari had been the one to incite the conversation, and well, it had felt good to get all that off her chest...

She hadn't gotten any paperwork done either.

'Takahashi, Icchan will yell at us if we're late, you know.'

Oshitari was right – these were thoughts she'd have to come back to at a later time. Picking up her lunchbox, she took one last glance at the horrendous pile of paperwork before marching past Oshitari who was standing by the door.

'Takahashi.'

She turned around on her heels like a marionette. 'What, Oshitari-san?'

'I enjoyed lunch with you today.' Oshitari was smirking, and he was leaning against the doorframe like he was in one of those movies with those guys who were too cool to care about anything and thought that sunglasses were appropriate indoor attire and suddenly Akiko just felt so irritated because –

Had she really just wasted a whole lunch hour on this guy? (Who she already wasted an entire Saturday with while he gallivanted about and got souvenirs in the form of phone numbers?)

With maybe a bit more testiness than necessary, she replied, 'Well, that makes one of us,' turned back around, and headed straight for class without listening for Oshitari's footsteps behind her.

.

'What? Takahashi, you still here?'

Kisaichi-sensei was standing in the exact same place Oshitari had been earlier, except Kisaichi-sensei wasn't leaning on the doorframe like a gigantic prick.

Then again, he was actually wearing sunglasses.

Gesturing towards the significantly smaller pile of paperwork, she replied, 'I think it is quite obvious why, Kisaichi-sensei.'

'I mean, why aren't you done already? You're fast as a bullet usually so...' Kisaichi-sensei plopped onto a bed; put his sunglasses on his forehead. 'What up?'

And oh God he was wearing leather boots he couldn't just wear those things around the school – 'Sensei, please get up from that bed immediately and change into indoor shoes.'

The only blond staff member of Hyoutei smiled at her and patted her head. 'Aw, it's cute when you care so much about things that nobody else gives a da...lmation about and hey, Ichiki; ready to head home?'

'Yeah – hey, you're still here, Takahashi? It's getting late, so you should probably head home too.' Her homeroom teacher was now standing in the doorframe as well, dressed for the weather outside.

'I just need a couple of minutes, sensei,' she replied. She would probably have already been done by now if people stopped interrupting her, but clearly that was just not going to happen.

'You're not finished?' Ichiki-sensei sounded shocked. 'What happened?'

'It's probably 'cause she brought around that glasses kid from your class,' the nurse commented.

'Oshitari? What was he doing here?' Ichiki-sensei asked, looking curious. But then he hit his palm with his fist 'I just remembered. I saw Sakaki coming around and he didn't look happy, Kisaichi. We should probably get going.'

'What's got him on my case now?' Kisaichi muttered. 'Takahashi, just remember to lock up when you're done, 'K? Let's go, Ichiki!' The blond ran out, and Ichiki followed, but not before yelling out, 'See you tomorrow, Takahashi!'

'Oh, but Takahashi – ' Kisaichi's blond head popped through the doorway again. 'Bring your boy next time I'm around so we can chat; I'm interested in the student who can distract Takahashi Akiko.'

And they were off, leaving Akiko with only paperwork and discontentment. Though she could get rid of one of them quickly enough, the other was problematic, and knowing that tomorrow was her first beautification committee meeting with her lovely fellow committee member did not help one bit.

.

.

.

**2. a foundation; a basis**

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><p>There will be a lot of OC interaction in this, if that notification switch hasn't already been flipped in your head. I'm not sure if I'm going to have anything from Oshitari's perspective yet, but we shall see when we get there. -awin<p> 


	3. unsteady

Chapter three. Not much happens. This is the sort of story wherein very little will happen at all, I'm afraid. Sorry for the delay!

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><p><strong>with a little love and sunshine<strong>

* * *

><p>Normally, the beautification committee meeting was held in a classroom, like every other committee meeting at Hyoutei. However, because of 'some reason or other', as Ichiki-sensei had put it, they were going to have it in the reading salon on the second floor instead. The reading salon consisted of – well, really, it was a reading salon. That was pretty much all there was to it. There were comfy chairs and coffee tables, all arranged so that there would be minimal contact between its occupants who would have been more concerned about reading than about discussing things like the beautification of Hyoutei.<p>

Could the committee be any more disorganised?

Akiko had to hold in her breath while walking through the hall, because she knew that if she exhaled it would come out as a sigh. Or a scream.

Probably the latter.

However, with great consideration, she kept her grievances to herself, and marched to the reading salon purposefully, only to find that there was only one person there.

And of course that person just had to be her least favourite classmate, Oshitari.

Luckily, he was engrossed in a book – maybe if she sat as far away from him as possible, he wouldn't notice –

'Takahashi, you're early. Sit with me.'

Having been acknowledged, Akiko sat on a couch sort of diagonally across from him. It was probably as far away as she could sit while still in a position that could be considered 'with' Oshitari.

'Don't let me keep you from reading, Oshitari-san,' she replied. Really – don't, she refrained from saying aloud. 'I've got a novel of my own, so...' Akiko took out the novel in question to prove her case, and held it up.

'Is that one of the covers you get from the bookshop?' Oshitari asked, forging down the conversation river with resolve that would have been much more useful elsewhere. Like a literal river. 'Don't you make your own?'

There was no way out of a direct question, so she replied, 'Why would I?' And then she realised she should have just said no because now Oshitari would feel compelled to answer. Why did she like to make herself suffer? It was clear that she did. If she'd just refused to join beautification committee at the beginning she could have avoided all this.

However, she was stuck here now, and it was her own fault, so she had to stick with it, even if it included Oshitari Yuushi, babbling about how he sewed his own book covers and –

'You sew your own book covers?'

'Yes. See?' This time, Oshitari was the one to hold up his novel, and it had an undeniably hand-sewn book cover. 'Are you surprised?'

'Yes,' she said frankly, because she was – partly because she didn't think he could sew, but also because the book cover was done in a very cute patchwork style with lace going down one side and a little wooden button as a fastener. It looked really well sewn. 'I thought you'd be the type to get hand-sewn book covers from girls so you wouldn't have to make them yourself – '

Wow, that sounded a bit offensive now that she had blurted it out.

However, Oshitari just laughed. Like, actual laughing, instead of that weird creepy chuckling he sometimes did which made him sound twenty years older. (Akiko could recognise this weird creepy chuckling because she'd heard it far too often from across the classroom, usually with a tittering blushing response from whomever he was romancing that day.) This was not an ordinary reaction, so she waited until his fit subsided and then demanded, 'What's so funny?'

'It's just – ' Oshitari had to stop talking to take a deep breath, and even then, he let out a couple more chuckles before continuing. Seriously, what was up with him? 'You're just different from what I expected, Takahashi.'

'Why were you expecting anything?' asked Akiko, because really, why on earth would he be expecting anything from her? It wasn't like they actually talked or shared interests or were anything more than very cool and distant classmates (at least on her part; Oshitari seemed determined to prove her assumptions wrong).

'Do you want one?' he asked, raising an eyebrow, though neither the question nor his expression was actually an answer to her question. He didn't wait for an answer either. 'I'll make you one, Takahashi – that way you won't have to keep using that factory-made book cover.'

'Actually, the shop clerk folded it for me when I bought the book,' she informed Oshitari, crossing her arms in front of her chest. 'And what's wrong with that?' It wasn't that she was affronted, per se, but – oh fine, she was a bit affronted. He had pretty much just insulted her entire book collection.

Oshitari replied with the wisdom of a man who sewed book covers. 'It wasn't made with _love_, Takahashi – a book cover like that is the same thing as getting obligation chocolate on Valentine's Day.'

'Firstly,' she retorted, 'I am a girl. I do not receive obligation chocolates – I bestow them. Secondly, Oshitari-san, it is not as if – '

'What colour do you like?' Oshitari interrupted her.

'What?'

'For the book cover I'm going to make you,' he explained. He didn't actually sound smug but Akiko felt like he did.

'It doesn't matter,' she said, because she really didn't think he was going to make it anyway. It was probably one of those things he said to get girls to like him. 'On another note, it is rather impolite to interrupt somebody midsentence, so as I was saying – '

'Oshitari-senpai, and oh, is that Takahashi-senpai you're sitting with?'

Who was interrupting her _now_? She whipped her head around – good thing she hadn't actually sat next to Oshitari or her ponytail would have whacked him in the face. Or maybe that was a missed opportunity. 'Hello, Ohtori-kun,' she replied, greeting her underclassman with a nod.

Ohtori Choutarou was one of those people that people just had to get along with. Ohtori knew the name of everybody in school and was always helping the teachers out. When you bumped into him accidentally, he'd apologise and then offer to carry your stuff the rest of the way. The cafeteria ladies giggled and chattered about him since he was a tall drink of water – like seriously tall – and he was on the tennis club to boot.

Akiko didn't like him.

Completely unrelated was the fact that Ohtori could play piano so beautifully even angels praised him. More specifically, Sakaki-sensei did, this one time when Ohtori and Akiko were practising a duet and Sakaki-sensei had happened to hear their rehearsal. He'd commented on Ohtori's technique, and then he had left. And that was it.

Completely, totally, absolutely unrelated.

'Are you in beautification committee too, Takahashi-senpai?' Ohtori asked, having already walked over to make true the statement 'three's a crowd'. After Akiko nodded again, Ohtori beamed. Literally – the light from the windows was reflected off his teeth. 'I'm looking forward to working together with you, senpai!'

Akiko really didn't want to continue this conversation, so she held up her novel with a book cover made without love. 'Sorry; I'm at a really interesting part right now, so – '

'Actually,' Oshitari interjected, 'no she isn't.' Akiko looked over at her fellow committee member, who stared back with something Akiko imagined to be challenge in his eyes.

'Actually,' she retorted, echoing Oshitari's sentence structure, 'yes I am. And I would know, Oshitari-san, since I'm the one reading.' She sent him a Warning Look suggesting 'please just shut up now'. Meanwhile, Ohtori looked like a bewildered puppy and not in an endearing way.

Even if Oshitari wanted to reply, he wasn't able to, since this was when Ichiki-sensei chose to make his entrance.

'Ohtori, Takahashi, Oshitari!' Ichiki grinned at the three of them. 'You're early! Why haven't you sat down, Ohtori? We've got a lot to cover, and we're going to have to do it fast – we teachers have a meeting about sports day after this. I hope you're all ready for next Saturday because it's going to be wild!'

Akiko seriously doubted sports day was going to be anything wilder than slightly undomesticated, like the previous sports days she had attended, but she nodded anyway. 'I have all my important points listed on my cue cards, so we can get through them quickly, sensei,' she told him, pulling out the cue cards in question.

'Cue cards? I love that you're always so prepared, Takahashi; really makes things easier.' Ichiki-sensei made a familiar gesture that meant that hair ruffling was imminent, only to stop mid-motion. 'Actually, why don't we rearrange these couches? It's going to be difficult talking like this, so let's make them into one big circle.'

There was a section in the school manual that explicitly stated that no furniture in the communal school areas (including cafeterias and reading salons but excluding classrooms) should be moved from their original positions without written permission from a staff member. In this case, Akiko supposed verbal permission would have to be good enough, since Ohtori had sprung into action even before Ichiki-sensei had stopped talking.

She couldn't resist scowling a little at Ohtori the eager piano-playing beaver, though the scowl slid off her face when she noticed Oshitari watching her. She flashed him the politest smile she could muster before turning to her overenthusiastic homeroom teacher.

'Ichiki-sensei, should we move these coffee tables as well? I think it would facilitate discussion.'

.

' – waste of time,' she finished, having been muttering under her breath for better part of an hour. She aligned the edges of the stack of papers against the flat surface of the desk before putting them in the filing cabinet. There. The infirmary was officially Filed with a capital F. At least she had done _something_ productive today.

Beautification committee had been a bit of a disaster, in that half of the pairs of class reps hadn't even gone to the public spaces they were meant to discuss. Of course, since it was Ichiki-sensei, there hadn't been any repercussions for those students – just a very _laissez-faire_ 'let's get that done for next week then' and an 'ah well' sort of smile. Not even a disapproving headshake, but a _smile_, which suggested that this sort of behaviour was OK when it clearly was not because this was exactly how irresponsibility was cultivated – like mould. If you didn't get rid of the offensive slice of bread right away, the mould would just spread to the other slices and then everybody would be lazy layabouts and what was the point of her spending all Saturday with –

'So in that situation, what you're saying is that Ichiki-sensei should have taken those students and thrown them out the second-storey window.'

She could recognise that voice now, so she had to stifle a sigh before turning around. 'Oshitari-san, do you need something?' She hadn't meant to say her last thoughts aloud, but there was no point crying over spilt milk or, in this case, defenestrated students. At least Oshitari had interrupted before she'd gotten to the part where she was about to complain about his atrocious behaviour on their weekend excursion, because inevitably, she would have complained about it. 'I'm going to assume the answer is no, so could you please let me continue with my duties?'

And, to reply to his question: 'It wouldn't have been that big a deal anyway, since we live in Japan so the second storey is really only the first storey in Europe. Just a slap on the wrist in comparison.' Akiko got up from her chair, pushing up from the desk as she did so. The feeling of actual solid wood instead of loose-leaf papers under her palm was quite nice, so she couldn't help but smile. Cleanliness was most definitely right next to godliness.

'...Takahashi?'

'What?' she said sharply, momentary delight forgotten. 'Don't you have tennis practice or something?'

Oshitari looked at her for a moment, and then shook his head. 'There's no tennis practice on Wednesdays. Anyway, what was that about earlier?'

She cocked her head to the side, because she really didn't understand. 'Earlier?'

'With Ohtori.'

Now she understood, but she feigned ignorance as best as she could anyway – which wasn't very. 'I don't know what you're talking about,' she said with a desultory wave of her hand, 'so if that's all – '

Then, Oshitari asked, point-blank, 'What's your problem with Ohtori?'

There really was no way out of this that Akiko could see, since her earlier attempt at suggesting she had no problem with Oshitari at all had proven futile, so she responded with a question in turn: 'If I tell you, will you let me get back to work?'

'Gladly.' Oshitari crossed his arms, staring at her through his glasses.

She actually did sigh this time, because she couldn't hold it in. 'I just don't like him, OK? Ohtori-kun gets on my nerves.'

Akiko very intentionally did not say anything about the piano thing because it wasn't like she owed that to Oshitari or anything –

– and deep down inside – really deep down –

– she knew it was a bit petty.

Oshitari didn't seem to think anything amiss though, and replied, looking amused, 'You know, people don't just hate people for no reason.'

She couldn't help but roll her eyes, because was she really getting lectured on human behaviour by Oshitari Yuushi? 'Oh please. People hate people all the time – they just aren't honest enough to say it. Tell me you don't get annoyed by Ohtori's goody-goody act sometimes.'

Oshitari blinked at her, like he hadn't expected her to say something like that at all. Sounding a little critical, he countered, 'There's a difference between irritation and hatred, Takahashi – I don't think you know the line. You can't just judge people for one fault, and Ohtori's niceness isn't even a fault at that.'

Was Oshitari _preaching _at Akiko? Like he wasn't the world's biggest playboy and he couldn't just _say that sort of thing about her _when they didn't know each other at all. Oshitari himself looked surprised that he had said what he had, but the cat was already out of the tall, glasses-wearing bag.

So this was what he thought of her.

Frostily, she said, 'We covered a lot in science class today, Oshitari-san. Don't you think you should go home early to study it?' She crossed her arms like Oshitari had earlier, eyes narrowed, just a bit.

Oshitari hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something else. He seemed to decide against it though, and turned around to leave. The sound of the door closing behind him was like a slap in the face.

Good riddance. Now that Oshitari was gone, Akiko could get started on – well, there was actually nothing to do. She'd finished when she'd filed those last papers.

'So that's Oshitari, huh.'

Akiko stepped backwards, startled, only to knock into the edge of the now very clean desk. Because there was no paper cushioning her impact, oh my god it kind of hurt oh my god since when had Kisaichi-sensei been sleeping on that bed? Had he been awake when she was muttering about Ichiki-sensei had he heard her talking about how irresponsible she thought her homeroom teacher was oh my god she was not freaking out. Calm down, Akiko. The fact that the nurse was actually in the infirmary should not have been shocking, so she took a couple of deep breaths, like she did after a run.

The blond nurse had pulled away the curtains and was now sitting up, stretching his arms out over his head as he yawned. He had at least had the decency to take off his boots before getting into bed, but he should have said something if he'd been here when Akiko came in. 'Yes, that's Oshitari-san,' she confirmed, even though she wasn't sure if the man actually wanted an answer.

Kisaichi-sensei let out a low whistle. 'You really don't give a guy a break, Takahashi.' Without explaining what he meant, even though Akiko had absolutely no idea what he was trying to say, the nurse turned to look at the window, frowning. 'Damn. Messed up my hair. Got a mirror?'

Akiko shook her head. 'I could go get one, Kisaichi-sensei,' she offered, though what she really wanted to say was 'Were you listening when I said that Ichiki-sensei was only barely more responsible than you?'

'You going to rip one off the lavatory walls, Takahashi?' Kisaichi-sensei smirked. 'I'm sure you know you can't move any furnishings without written permission from a staff member.'

Oh god.

He had been listening.

The whole time.

'Sensei, you must understand that what I was mumbling earlier did not actually mean anything – I was just talking to myself – just mindless muttering I didn't actually know what I was saying none of what I said is true – ' Akiko had her eyes on the ground and she was sure her cheeks were on fire when she exclaimed, looking up again, 'Kisaichi-sensei if you were awake all along why didn't you say something when I came in?'

'Take a chill pill, Takahashi. I'm not gonna lecture you or anything.' The nurse got up from the bed and walked over to her. Rummaging through the desk drawers, he took out what was clearly a tube of clearly sugar-coated chocolates but had the words CHILL PILLS written over the label in marker. Flipping the cap open, he poured out a couple of the chocolates, and held them out towards Akiko. 'Have some. Doctor's orders.'

Akiko dutifully took the minimal amount of some – that is, two – and swallowed the chocolates whole.

Kisaichi-sensei ate the remaining chocolates before speaking again. 'Now, Takahashi, I think you need a break, so go home. Rest up so that you can do well on sports day, 'K? You look peaky.' He shooed her out of the infirmary and before she knew it, the door had closed behind her.

It was only when she had already gotten on the train home that she realised that Kisaichi-sensei had effectively diffused her irritation at Oshitari by flustering her with another issue, and it felt like it had been very much on purpose. She couldn't even be angry about it because Kisaichi-sensei had let her off lightly considering the fact that she had been badmouthing both him and his colleague.

What did bother her was how much she'd let Oshitari raise her hackles because this wasn't who she was. She didn't care what Oshitari thought – or what any of her classmates thought, for that matter. All she wanted to do was get through junior high and then senior high and then university, and then she'd graduate from Hyoutei and get a well-paying job at some company. She'd get a real house with a small yard behind it so that Bagel would have more space in his old age and maybe she would even get a proper butler like her mother had been telling her to do for years. She didn't need any disruptions from Tall, Dark and Hypercritical.

Tomorrow, Akiko resolved. Tomorrow she'd just ignore whatever Oshitari said, and she'd do the same thing the day after that, and the day after that as well. She'd been neglecting her English studies anyway. The next time Oshitari spoke to her, she'd pretend he was a foreigner and compose replies to him in English in her head.

It'd be fine as long as she didn't say them out loud.

.

.

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**3. inconstant in purpose, or volatile in behaviour**

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><p>Next chapter, other tennis club members will finally show up (and you will no longer have this imbalance of original and canon characters). The reading salon mentioned this chapter actually exists in Hyoutei according to the fanbooks, since that is Oshitari's favourite hangout spot. The fanbooks also say that Hyoutei has an unequal number of boys than girls, and that will be coming up next chapter as well. Stay tuned! -awin<p> 


	4. resume

I can't remember what the various Hyoutei team members call each other. Is there a cheat sheet for this sort of thing somewhere? In a fan book or something, because that would be incredibly helpful. Anyhow, here is chapter four!

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><p><strong>with a little love and sunshine<strong>

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><p>As it turned out, Akiko didn't have to put any of her English skills to work at all, since Oshitari was ignoring her very well all by himself. Before, she'd always gotten a 'Hey, Takahashi' in the morning when she walked in (and lately, she had wished it'd stopped at 'Hey'), but he hadn't spoken a single word to her since Wednesday. It was Friday now, and sports day was tomorrow, but still there was no acknowledgement from the class's Kansai representative.<p>

Fine. If he was going to play it that way, it just made things easier for her.

And it should've. Really. It was just that, strangely enough, being ignored by Oshitari made it more difficult to ignore Oshitari. She'd been so prepared to ignore him (and she really did need some more opportunities to practise her English) so when the chance didn't arise, it was aggravating.

Oblivious to his student's inner turmoil, Ichiki-sensei was talking about how sports day was going to go. 'I expect you all here bright and early because we are going for the gold. I bet on you over class 3-B so don't let me down!'

'Icchan, that's so much pressure!'

'Yeah – that's not cool!'

Ichiki-sensei just laughed. 'It's cool as long as you all try your best, OK? It's really more important for you guys to have fun – it's your last year of junior high so you should enjoy all these events.'

'Icchan-sensei, you're so nice!'

'That said if you guys win I'll get you all some juice,' their homeroom teacher finished, grinning. 'OK – back to our regular scheduled programming now...'

While Ichiki-sensei continued speaking, Akiko found her attention drifting to the back of a certain dark-haired young man. Given the circumstances, she really didn't think he had the right to ignore her when she was the one who'd been insulted. He was the one who had been saying rude things, so why was he the one turning his back on her? And it was only her – he was just as chummy as he usually was with all the other girls, or even chummier, so it seemed to Akiko. It wasn't like he was distracted by something so hadn't been talking with anybody. He was deliberately ignoring her, and she should have been thankful that finally Oshitari was leaving her alone. And she was. Really.

But it sort of stung.

When she looked up, she noticed that Ichiki-sensei had gone, and her history teacher had replaced him. Homeroom had ended while her mind was wandering, and everyone else already had out their history texts. She looked around frantically – what page were they on? In her rush, she accidentally knocked her pencil off her desk. Reaching over to pick it up, she knocked over her pencil case as well, and since it had been open – why had she left it open she never left her pencil case open – all of its contents spilled out onto the floor.

'Takahashi, is something the matter?' the teacher questioned. Everyone was looking at her. Oshitari was too.

Akiko quickly shook her head as she scrambled to pick up her things. 'No; sorry, sensei,' she mumbled. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire, and suddenly she felt a lot more empathy for the classmates who had been in similar situations, when she'd scorned them for their clumsiness before.

What was she doing?

.

It was a relief when sports day finally arrived, since the students had been spending most of September preparing for it. The day itself was, as usual, a little bit hectic, what with all the students rushing about to set up equipment and direct participants. Akiko was done her portion of that though, and only had to run the eight hundred now. With the soles of her trainers on the red track, when she heard the pistol, her legs started running almost of their own accord. Akiko had never been one of those people who listened to music while running – no; she ran for the sake of running. She ran because she ran.

She ran.

'Well done, Takahashi!' Ichiki-sensei cheered as Akiko passed the finish line a stretch ahead of the other runners. 'That's another first place for Class 3-A! We're still losing to 3-B but we've got a real chance!'

Akiko didn't reply. Her hands were on her knees as she let herself take a breather, which she had definitely earned. She'd only run the eight hundred metres, but she'd run it hard since there really wasn't any point to running if you weren't going to do it properly.

Now that she was done, she was free to watch any of the other events. She glanced over to the field where the cavalry fight was happening. Definitely not something she had even the slightest inkling of interest in, so she moved on.

The ball-rolling race was as ridiculous as it was every year, with each group of students pushing along one gigantic red ball. How was this even remotely related to athletics? Akiko really had no idea, though that was how she felt about the borrowing and the bread-eating races, and her classmates seemed to enjoy those quite a bit. Clearly she was just not in the _loop_.

'Akiko-chan!'

Who on earth could be calling her that? And could she please stop? Akiko turned with a slight frown to look at who had just addressed her, and recognised her as one of her classmates. Akiko had probably spoken to her twice in her whole career at Hyoutei, and didn't really feel the need to speak to her a third time.

'I saw you finish the race,' she gushed. 'You're so fast! Here – you must be so tired, so I got you a drink from the vending machine!' The girl held up a bottle of water with two hands, while bowing the rest of her body. 'Please accept it!'

Akiko did as requested, though she was completely bewildered. The girl flashed her a quick smile before running off, wearing a shoulder bag that had a couple more bottles sticking out of it. Was she just going around and handing them out?

Akiko didn't have time to ponder though, because at this time one of the teachers started speaking through a megaphone. 'It's for the last event of the day! Would all the relay participants please come to the track?'

Relay? That was something Akiko was interested in seeing – she wasn't sure who'd signed up from their class, but it really didn't matter to her. It was just fun to spot the runners from the people who were obviously coerced into signing up because they couldn't get into the supposedly _fun_ events like the obstacle race or the three-legged race. Two other things that Akiko really didn't think had any reason to be considered sporty, but nobody seemed to share her opinion. If the relay was starting, all the other events had to have ended, anyhow, so it really was the only thing to watch.

She meandered back over to the track and saw the girl from earlier at the starting line. So she was the first representative. She really didn't strike Akiko as a runner, and, as it turned out, she wasn't – once the gun went off, the girl made a valiant effort, but was easily overtaken by most of the other competitors. She wasn't bad though, Akiko admitted – better than Akiko had expected from her build, anyhow.

When the girl passed the baton, there was a bit of a fumble, but class 3-A returned to the front with its next runner. Definitely more of a sprinter than a marathoner, Akiko judged – why had she been put in the second stretch instead of the last one? Third was another sprinter, and by this time 3-A was definitely in the lead. Their last runner would have had to be a complete flop to screw things up.

The fourth runner was Oshitari.

She'd never really seen Oshitari run before, so Akiko watched closely. He had to be at least OK – he was on the tennis team, and their athletic standards were high (even if sometimes Akiko totally felt like handsomeness was also a criterion because it couldn't just be a happy coincidence that all of the regulars were pretty enough to warrant screaming fan girls). However, as he ran, Akiko was struck by the fact that Oshitari was definitely not a sprinter but a marathoner, and he definitely had to run a lot. Not just for tennis but on a regular basis, because his form was great. He was relaxed and not all hunched over which she'd seen a lot when she observed other people running in the morning, and he didn't overstep to hurry to the end, either. His strides were long, but not strangely so, and his running seemed to be as natural as breathing.

It was beautiful. And Akiko didn't have any problem admitting it because it was true – sort of like how someone might say that the sky was blue or that there is water in the ocean. There was no refuting the fact, and Akiko watched, mesmerised, as Oshitari's long legs took him around the track.

Akiko was still watching when he crossed the finish line, and was shaken harshly out of her reverie by the cheers from her class when it turned out that 3-A had won the relay. Her attention was still on Oshitari though, who was drinking bottled water – the same brand that Akiko had been drinking earlier, not that that really mattered. She was more interested in the new information of how Oshitari was a fellow runner. When on earth did Oshitari find time to go running in between tennis and all those dates he had to be going on with the girls he chatted up? Akiko usually just ran thirty minutes every morning, but then she had to factor in getting to the park and going back to her apartment to change into school clothes, and she wasn't even in any clubs – she should ask Oshitari how he managed to fit it into his schedule, and where he ran –

Except they weren't talking.

And there really wasn't any situation in which talking to Oshitari about _anything_ was advantageous. She knew that. He'd just start bugging her again and that would be ridiculously irritating and she'd already decided she was going to ignore him, so she couldn't break that agreement with herself now. And why would she want to?

It was at this moment that Oshitari looked over, with bottled water in one hand and his Hyoutei regular jersey half on. He stared at her as he stood just a little off the track. Some of their classmates were patting him on the back, with Mukahi among them.

Akiko should have looked away. She really should have.

But she didn't. And then Oshitari held up a hand in greeting before putting on the jersey properly and jogging over. Behind him, Mukahi waved.

She stood still until Oshitari reached her, and she nodded in greeting, though she didn't speak. She didn't know what to say, but obviously, Oshitari did, because he asked, 'Takahashi, were you watching?' He wasn't even slightly out of breath.

It was a stupid question – why else would she be standing here? She didn't say that though, and instead stiffly said, 'Congratulations. Oshitari-san.'

'Thanks.' Oshitari's smirk looked a bit overdone – maybe residual smugness from his victory? 'But we're not going to win,' he added with a dramatic sigh. '3-B is ahead, which means that Atobe will be completely insufferable at practice next week.'

Oshitari continued on in this vein for a while. It seemed that Atobe was just a generally arrogant young man, which was a bit rich coming from Oshitari, Akiko thought. She didn't really think too hard on that issue though, because she was more bemused as to why Oshitari was talking to her all of a sudden when he'd been actively ignoring her for half of the week.

'Congratulations on your win in the eight hundred too, Takahashi.' Oshitari took another swig from his water bottle, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

So he was just going to pretend like Wednesday never happened? That was fine. It wasn't like Akiko cared either way, really. Even if Oshitari had apologised she wouldn't have liked him any better.

That was why she said, with overt nonchalance, 'Thank you.'

'It is rather unfortunate that we didn't win overall, even though you won us the eight hundred,' Oshitari said, the corners of his lips turned up. 'Winning the relay would also have been a lot more satisfying if it had meant winning as a class.'

'Actually, I don't really care,' Akiko replied honestly. She took a sip from her water bottle as well, just so she could occupy herself with something.

Oshitari waited until she was done to continue. 'What do you mean?' Raising an eyebrow, he rested his head on his hand and propped his elbow up on an imaginary table. Why he was doing this Akiko really did not know, so she decided to just ignore it.

'I mean, it doesn't matter to me if the class loses, since I won my race,' she elaborated. Was that a bit too unfriendly? Standoffish?

Oh, it wasn't like it mattered. Oshitari already thought she was too judgemental anyway – and why were they having this conversation after Oshitari had blurted that out?

Oshitari didn't reply though, just looking stupidly thoughtful. That was a strange use of an adverb, but Oshitari was being strange today anyhow, so it worked.

'They're going to have the assembly for the results soon, Oshitari-san, so I'm going to go line up,' she informed her classmate, and started to leave, only to have Oshitari take hold of her arm.

'Wait,' he said, rummaging through one of his jersey pockets with his free hand. 'This is for you.' And he held out something made of cloth. At first, Akiko had thought it was some strange reversal of the girl handing the guy she liked a sports towel after he won a game, but no.

It was a book cover.

Her reaction was probably not what Oshitari had expected, because Oshitari felt the need to explain. 'Because I said that I'd make you one on Wednesday.'

'On Wednesday,' Akiko repeated, feeling dumbfounded and undoubtedly looking it too.

'You didn't tell me what colour you liked, so I took the liberty of choosing one for you. I thought the tan would be nice since you don't seem like the type of girl who likes bright colours on their books, and this way it'd match your other book covers. I went with a slip-in flap instead of a button close because it felt more efficient, so you can get to reading quickly and still have cloth to protect the pages unlike with the covers you're using now.'

Oshitari was saying a lot of things with vocabulary that Akiko didn't actually understand, but she wasn't looking at him and was instead staring at the hand-sewn book cover he was proffering.

'Will you accept it?' Oshitari said this quietly. Almost hesitantly. A thought struck Akiko: was this Oshitari's way of apologising? The book cover suddenly looked like it was imbued with far too much meaning and Akiko wasn't sure she wanted it, but –

Oshitari had gone out of his way to make it for her, and –

He hadn't been completely in the wrong on Wednesday. She knew that.

She had known that all along.

'Thank you,' she responded, repeating her early comment, but this time she smiled, just a little, before taking the book cover and glancing behind her to the table she had put her bag on before her race. 'I'm just going to put this away first then, so you should go head to the closing ceremony first, Oshitari-san.' Turning her head back around to face her classmate, she noticed him staring at her. 'What is it?'

'Nothing,' he replied, looking away. 'See you later, Takahashi.'

And that was that. Oshitari went off in the direction of the crowd of students gathering for the ceremony, leaving Akiko to run over to her bag and quickly put down the book cover before rushing over to the ceremony herself. She caught the eye of Sakaki-sensei, who looked displeased by her tardiness. She mouthed an 'excuse me' to her music teacher before joining the other third-years.

'... and finally, class 3-B!'

.

And now, the part of sports day that Akiko hated the most: the folk dance. She didn't understand why this was necessary – all the other stupid events already fostered a sickening atmosphere of camaraderie and cooperation, so ending the day with boys and girls holding hands in a round was just over the top. It was even less fun for some of the guys because at Hyoutei there were a lot more male students than female ones, so a fair number of them – the short, skinny and generally effeminate ones – were forced to dance in the girl's ring instead.

She looked over to her left, where Oshitari and Mukahi were dancing. They were perhaps the only all-male pair that was enjoying themselves, since every other group of males looked absolutely miserable.

'Oi, you. Pay attention to me.'

Looking back to her dance partner, Akiko rolled her eyes. How on earth did this guy have any fans at all with this sort of attitude? It wasn't as if anybody actually cared about the folk dance. All they did was go around in circles. It was really just a glorified walk, so it didn't really warrant anybody's attention, let alone Akiko's – she was only here because it was mandatory. For that matter, if she could've have skipped sports day, she would've. 'It's not "oi, you"; it's Takahashi.'

'You should be honoured to be in my presence,' Atobe continued, as if Akiko hadn't spoken up at all. If his hands were free, Akiko would bet anybody her apartment that Atobe would have put them on his hips like a nagging househusband. From the very little she knew about Atobe Keigo – and it was very, _very_ little – he really did seem like the sort of person who would be insufferable after winning a competition, as Oshitari had suggested. He was probably insufferable all of the time. Was being really annoying a requirement for being on the tennis team? 'Other girls would have killed for the opportunity to dance with me.'

Akiko couldn't help it. She snorted. 'I'm sure they would have.'

'I was being serious.'

'So was I.'

'You're not cute at all,' Atobe muttered with a frown.

'Well neither are you,' Akiko replied snippily. At least Atobe's hands weren't clammy like that other guy's. Wow, had that been disgusting.

'Of course I am not _cute_,' Atobe snapped. 'I am devastatingly handsome.'

Was he listening to himself? To be honest, his arrogance was a lot more refreshing than modesty though, so she smiled just a little, despite herself.

The tennis club captain smirked. 'So even Takahashi Akiko knows how to smile,' he said, looking far too amused for a reason that Akiko didn't understand.

She stiffened immediately, smile sliding off her face. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'I've heard some things about you,' Atobe said, very blasé. 'It has been an interesting couple of weeks at tennis practice.'

Was Oshitari saying strange things to the tennis team about her? Akiko's eyes narrowed. Had he said something to Ohtori? Before Akiko could interrogate him with the full force of an unexpected Spanish Inquisition, the music changed, which meant it was also time to change partners.

'I'll see you around, Takahashi.' And Atobe was off. What kind of parting phrase was that? See you around? Why on earth would she see him around? In Atobe's place was some other guy that Akiko didn't know and didn't care to get to know better, so she didn't say a word while they danced.

She would have liked to do the same thing with her next partner, but he was Oshitari, and now that he had stopped ignoring her, it seemed that he had returned to his habit of never shutting up. She took his hand silently while Oshitari seemed to have no trouble thinking up things to say.

'Getting pretty chummy with Atobe, I see.'

'Huh?' Akiko totally did not actually register what Oshitari had said, since she was too busy being glad that she was actually pretty tall for a girl. It would have been dreadful dancing with both Atobe and Oshitari otherwise. Why were they so lanky? You'd think they'd stolen their limbs from Russian ballerinas or something. To her right, Atobe was dancing with a girl who was about five feet tall if you were being generous, and it looked like a circus act. Or a tragedy.

Or both.

'Takahashi.'

'Huh?' she said again, attention snapping back to her current dance partner. 'What is it?'

'About Atobe – '

The music stopped. Akiko let go of Oshitari's hands.

'What about Atobe?' she asked, so very glad that she'd gotten that over with. She really hated the folk dance.

'Yes, what about me?' A drawl chimed in from beside them – it was Atobe, with a very unattractive grimace on his face. 'Oshitari, I have some complaints I would like to make about your doubles partner – please tell him to clip his nails. It was like holding hands with a mangy cat.'

'Well I'm sorry I don't have my hands _manicured_.' Another person apparently felt the need to pipe up. Mukahi Gakuto had joined their trio, and Akiko really didn't know what she was doing here because it was rapidly turning into a boys' tennis team meeting. If Ohtori showed up she would probably punch herself in the stomach just as an excuse to escape.

'I don't even own nail polish,' Mukahi added, rolling his eyes. 'You're such a girl sometimes, Atobe. Oh wait, did I say sometimes? I mean _all the time_.'

'Since proper nail care is something to be proud of for both genders, you should look into it, Mukahi, when you have so very little to be proud of at all. Your stamina is still abominable, and your technique has been lacking lately.'

'Hey, everyone!' Mukahi called out, catching the attention of a bunch of other students. 'Atobe's treating us to lunch since his class won!'

'Why should I have to treat you commoners when I'm the one who won?'

'And dessert too!'

'Mukahi, you – '

'Takahashi, you should leave before this escalates,' Oshitari suggested, looking at his teammates with familiar resignation.

'How about you?' she asked politely. Since he'd had the courtesy to give her an out, she'd offer him the same.

'I thought I'd get a run in on the track since the school's still open,' Oshitari told her. With a brisk wave, he set off, and Akiko watched his back while he ran. His form really was nice.

Then, Oshitari looked back over his shoulder, and caught her gaze. The smirk on his face grew gradually, but soon it was so wide she didn't know how it fit on his face – a How The Grinch Stole Christmas allusion would have been totally appropriate here. Akiko scowled at him very emphatically before walking away in a huff. Mukahi and Atobe didn't even notice their exits since they were so busy discussing lunch plans and how Atobe used too much hair product.

She headed for the table where she'd put her bag. It had fallen to the floor – she probably hadn't placed it properly after putting the book cover in. Normally she was so good with things like that, but this week hadn't exactly been a showcase of her gracefulness.

Akiko found herself taking the book cover out. It would be a perfect fit for most of her Japanese novels – the English ones she had varied too much in size. She actually had a novel right now that would work, so she took that out too.

With a mental apology to the abandoned shop-given book cover, she removed and folded it so that it would fit neatly in her bag. Then, she slipped Oshitari's book cover on – a bit snug, but it was really well crafted. Where had Oshitari learnt how to sew?

The slip-in flap Oshitari had mentioned really was rather nice. Protecting the paper from the wear and tear that inevitably came from the exposure to the world of constant jostling was rather nice too. She inspected the outside for any visible seams, but no – the only seams that were visible were purposefully so, in a patchwork sort of fashion.

There was a ribbon attached to the inside of the spine, and on it, there was a cloth-backed paper gift tag, meant as a bookmark, Akiko assumed. It was blank, with dotted lines on it. Since Akiko wrote her name on all her previous book covers, this was rather convenient. She took out a black pen, and neatly wrote her name in small characters on the appropriate line:

TO Takahashi Akiko

Then, since she would not leave anything incomplete, she filled in the next line too:

FROM Oshitari Yuushi

.

.

.

**4. return to a previous location or condition  
><strong>

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><p>Studying for exams now so there will probably not be an update any time soon. Thank you for reading! -awin<p> 


	5. constant

An in-between, establish-y chapter wherein things happen but nothing really changes. Hence the title. Happy lunar new year to those who celebrate it! I take some liberties here. I have no idea whether or not dogs are allowed along the palace jogging route. Though I haven't read evidence that they aren't, the lack of evidence does not really prove that they are allowed, in the same way that the lack of physical proof for the existence unicorns does not prove that they do not exist. Please forgive this slight artistic licence.

* * *

><p><strong>with a little love and sunshine<strong>

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><p>This morning was not going well for Takahashi Akiko. She had woken up late, because, for some reason, her alarm clock had not gone off. If she thought about it logically, either she or Bagel must have hit the SNOOZE button at some point, but since Bagel was well disciplined and so was she, obviously it must have been a hardware malfunction. She would have ordered one online immediately after discovering said failure on the alarm clock's part, but she had barely had enough time to make food for her and Bagel as it was. The alarm clock shopping had to wait until after school.<p>

Then, her computer had refused to turn on, so she couldn't check the weather and had to resort to looking out the window and hoping it would stay sunny until she got home. Luckily, she had already packed her schoolbag, but she still set out at a far later time for her running course than she usually did, which meant it was more crowded. It would have been fine jogging just by herself, but she always jogged with Bagel. That wasn't an issue in the early morning, but now...

And that wasn't even the worst of it. Akiko really should have expected it, since everything bad happening to her lately seemed to be linked to one person, but that hadn't made her any more prepared to see Oshitari Yuushi coming out of one of the runner's locker stations dressed in his Hyoutei tennis uniform.

The thoughts going through Akiko's head at the time were as follows:

Oh God.

What is he doing there?

Does he live nearby?

Why is he looking around oh God can he see me?

Fortunately, Oshitari didn't seem to spot her. Since Akiko had never seen him here before, hopefully this was a one-time thing because this was _her_ jogging route – it didn't matter that she ran it with dozens of other people, because she didn't know them personally and they weren't incredibly annoying. There was no other route nearby with this much greenery and wide enough paving for Bagel to run with her too, and she really didn't fancy moving out of her flat so soon just so that she could get in her morning jog.

She could afford to wait a few minutes before setting off herself, so long as she forwent breakfast when she got back to her flat and took a very quick shower. However, this was an unwelcome change to her schedule – Akiko was rather rigid with this sort of thing – and did not endear her to her classmate any further, though Oshitari was really far enough down on the endearment scale that a little bit lower would not have made much of a difference.

Bagel gave her a querying look when they didn't move forward, but she shook her head. Crouching down so that she and Bagel were at eye level, she whispered, 'Just wait a bit, 'K? We'll have to be more careful jogging today, since there are a lot of people and we don't want to bump into them, but we'll go out again at night to make up for it, Bagel.' She scratched under his chin, and then stood back up.

Oshitari was already gone. Presumably he was running this route for some sort of tennis club exercise regime, and it would soon be over. Akiko didn't know if there were any tennis tournaments going on now, but whatever it was, it had to be only temporary.

'Let's go, Bagel!'

Bagel barked once in reply, and they set forth on their jog around the Imperial Palace.

.

'Unlike you to be late, Takahashi.'

Akiko refrained from showing her most withering look ever to her least favourite classmate, simply because she needed to keep some sense of decorum or she might break down entirely. This was not a good day. She had been late for the second time in her entire school career. Ichiki-sensei had attempted to excuse it since it was the first time she had been late in junior high school, but Akiko wouldn't allow any rules to be broken for her sake. Breaking one rule made it acceptable to break another, and another, and then all hell would break loose. Akiko would not be held responsible for the destabilisation of society as she knew it.

On top of that, she had apparently not packed her bag as well as she thought she had, and did not have the text required for one of her classes and ended up spending all of English looking at her maths textbook which made it very hard to follow along. And now she was being interrupted while in the middle of reading her novel.

Not a good day was a bit of an understatement.

'No lunch today?' Oshitari was relentless despite her reticence, though she should have known that no mere silence would deter him. 'I've never tried it myself but I've heard that the cafeteria food is fantastic.'

Like everything else at Hyoutei, Akiko was sure. The quality was warranted. However, the issue was more the fact that she had no money with her, because for some reason, her wallet was at home with her English text as well as the refrigerated food that she had cooked last night but had not had time to put into a lunchbox because running on a congested route with a rather large dog was a lot more difficult than she thought it would have been.

'I see you're using the book cover.'

The black-haired girl snapped the novel shut with both hands, and finally looked up. 'Do you need something, Oshitari-san?'

Oshitari just held up both hands, palms outward. 'Just making conversation, Takahashi.'

'Well, _stop_,' she said snippily. She flipped open the novel again, and tried to immerse herself into the story, but could only keep on worrying about whether or not she had the texts she needed for the afternoon's classes. It didn't help that Oshitari's face was now a lot closer to hers than it had been before.

'Is something wrong?' Oshitari had tilted his head sideways and rested his elbows on Akiko's desk. 'You're...'

She narrowed her eyes. 'What?'

'You just seem on edge,' Oshitari said in what was probably meant to be a placating tone but just rubbed Akiko the wrong way.

Akiko looked directly at Oshitari, who looked right back at her. 'Oshitari-san, I would really like to finish this novel at some time this year, so if you could please just let me read.' She waited until Oshitari looked away before returning to her novel, and when she looked up again, at the end of lunch, Oshitari was already back at his seat.

She sighed quietly, and rested her head against the novel.

Akiko had a headache.

.

Objectively, Akiko knew that she had been less than polite at lunch, just as she had been less than polite last week when Oshitari had asked her about Ohtori. That didn't change the fact that Oshitari had been extremely annoying, but she was better than him and shouldn't have been tricked into discourtesy just because she hadn't had the best of mornings.

Objectively, she also knew that she should probably apologise for both of the incidents, because she had been partly at fault. Oshitari had one-upped her with the book cover last time, so she had to take initiative because – drat it all – she really did not want Oshitari to ignore her again. Being ignored sucked.

However, knowing these things objectively was very different from actually acknowledging her knowledge, and it took until the last bell for Akiko to man up and decide to give a very stiff apology to her classmate. Just one 'sorry' and then she'd go home and have fun shopping for alarm clocks online. She could buy one of those ones that played music from a CD and –

No, she couldn't distract herself. She had to get this done first.

She looked around the classroom. Everyone was packing their bags, Oshitari included, so she strode over. 'Oshitari-san.'

Oshitari glanced at her. 'Takahashi, I've got tennis practice now, so ...' Without waiting for an answer, Oshitari picked up his bag and wove through the desks and out the door. Akiko's 'I've got something to say to you' went unheard.

'Oi, Yuushi! Wait up!' Mukahi called out after his doubles partner. With a wave and a grin to Takahashi, he added, 'You can probably catch him after practice – I'll tell him you'll be waiting!' Then, the red-haired young man ran out too.

That had been a bit strange.

'Did you want something with Oshitari-kun, Akiko-chan?'

Akiko looked at who was speaking – it was the girl who had given her a bottle of water after the race. Akiko didn't really know why this girl thought what was happening was any of her business, but she'd be useful. 'What time does tennis practice end?'

'Today it ends in about an hour, but – '

'Thank you,' Akiko replied, and then headed out the door herself. She'd deal with infirmary duties first, and then corner Oshitari so she could apologise. Then the alarm clock shopping.

At least there was something to look forward to.

.

That had been the plan, anyway. The infirmary had had a 'COME BACK LATER' sign on it, which meant that Kisaichi-sensei was out who knows where. Normally, she would just unlock the door and finish up whatever was left out on the desk, but she'd ended up just sitting in the salon for an hour, reading a bit more of the novel she'd brought with her.

Then, she'd headed for the tennis courts, only to find out that Oshitari had left in 'record time', as Atobe had put it, though he had added a lot more words like 'shortest shower ever' and 'didn't even fix his hair'.

It felt awfully like Oshitari was avoiding her.

There was no point in sticking around on the courts when Oshitari was gone, so Akiko had headed back to the infirmary. The sign was still there, but she ripped it off and entered anyway. She'd tried to get into the usual tedious rhythm of paperwork, but she was bothered. She had decided to apologise to Oshitari, and he was being incredibly inconsiderate by making it difficult for her, and she didn't like leaving things unfinished and –

The door opened. In came Kisaichi-sensei and Oshitari, with drinks in hand. Oshitari had a can of juice and Kisaichi-sensei – well, she was going to assume optimistically that it was a bottle of tea.

'Where have you been, Kisaichi-sensei?' Her tone was not accusatory but painstakingly cordial. 'I saw the sign.'

'Went out for a bit of a break,' the school nurse replied with a yawn. 'You wouldn't believe who I ran into.'

'I would presume Oshitari-san, since he's here with you.' That didn't explain why Oshitari had come back with him though, and Akiko rather wanted to know.

'That's why you're the smart one, I guess.' Kisaichi-sensei took a slurp from his straw. 'Me and glasses boy had a chat and like decided it was cool if he stuck around for infirmary. Normally I wouldn't approve of such inappropriate behaviour – ' Akiko did not snort, because that would be bad ' – but he can keep you company and all that.' He paused. 'And well if Sakaki comes around and sees a tall guy in here he might think it's me, but that's just a bonus.'

Akiko turned back towards her paperwork, so she could roll her eyes. A brown paper bag was dropped unceremoniously next to the pile of sheets she was working on.

'Have a burger.'

She raised an eyebrow before turning towards Oshitari, who was looking down at her. 'The cafeteria was closed,' he said. When Akiko still looked confused, he appended, 'Because you didn't eat anything at lunch.'

The gears in Akiko's mind were whirring. 'So that's why you ran off after tennis practice.'

Oshitari gave a slight nod. 'Gakkun told me you had something to say, so I figured I'd get you something to eat since you were waiting for me and I wanted to grab a bite after practice anyway.'

That was what Akiko got for being extremely self-centred, then. Oshitari's taking off hadn't had anything to do with her at all. He'd just needed to hurry to tennis practice the first time and was hungry the second.

She still had to apologise though.

'Thank you,' she said firmly. 'And I apologise for my behaviour at lunch.'

There.

She said it.

Oshitari stared at her like she was confused in the head. 'Why are you apologising?'

Akiko had thought it was evident. 'Because I was rude.'

Oshitari had the nerve to laugh. 'You don't have to apologise. It was my fault for bothering you when you were clearly on edge, like I said.'

'Nevertheless,' she continued, 'I'm sorry.'

'Watching you guys is like watching a bad television programme.' Oshitari and Akiko both turned their attentions away from each other and towards Kisaichi-sensei, who was standing in the doorway, looking bored. 'I'm out. Remember to lock up when you're done, Takahashi.'

After the nurse slid the door closed behind him, Oshitari repeated, 'Lock up?'

Akiko fished the infirmary key out of her schoolbag. 'Kisaichi-sensei gave me the keys because that way he doesn't have to stick around until I'm done. And you don't have to actually stick around to keep my company, Oshitari-san,' she added. 'I've said all I had to say.'

Oshitari just sat down on one of the beds. 'You should really eat before the fries get cold.'

'Fries are terrible and unhealthy,' Akiko informed Oshitari. 'As an athlete, you really shouldn't buy food from fast food restaurants.'

That said, she ripped the paper bag open neatly so that it functioned as a tablecloth of sorts. 'I haven't had fries in years,' Akiko said with a bit of a sigh.

'Parents don't condone eating cheap commoner food?' Oshitari asked with a smirk.

Akiko shook her head. 'I don't really go out to eat much.' She picked a fry up and bit into it. 'You should have some too, Oshitari-san, since you bought it.'

'I'm not that hungry,' Oshitari said with a bit of a shrug.

Akiko frowned, because something did not add up. 'I thought you said you "wanted to grab a bite after practice".'

Oshitari blinked. 'Oh. I mean, I bought a meal for myself already and ate it while I was walking back to Hyoutei, so I'm not hungry anymore. Is a cheeseburger OK? I wasn't sure.'

'It's fine. And really.' Akiko looked at Oshitari, sitting on the bed. Oshitari looked back. 'I am sorry for my behaviour earlier today, Oshitari-san.'

'Don't worry about it.' Breezing past Akiko's heartfelt expression of regret like it was nothing, Oshitari said, with a smirk, 'But you won't believe what Kisaichi-sensei was doing out...'

.

.

.

**5. changeless; unvarying in nature**

I don't know if append can be used as an intransitive verb or not, and would greatly appreciate it if somebody told me. Thank you for reading! -awin


	6. strife

A lot of things happening in this chapter! I'd like to say it makes up for the fact that very little has happened at all yet, but that's really not how stories are supposed to work. By the same logic, you can't just not eat for a week after eating a breakfast buffet, two dessert crepes and Korean barbecue in one day. Please enjoy the story equivalent of dangerous overeating!

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><p><strong>with a little love and sunshine<strong>

* * *

><p>Inexplicably, Akiko found herself spending much of her time at Hyoutei for the past couple of weeks in Oshitari's company. Since Kisaichi-sensei had essentially given Oshitari his blessing, her favourite glasses-wearing classmate always popped in at some point during her infirmary duties, and on Wednesdays, he was there the whole time. Usually, he just talked to himself, but it was – well.<p>

Distracting.

It was very strange to suddenly be constantly bombarded by company when Akiko had become so accustomed to spending her days alone. She wasn't sure which she enjoyed more, really. She had to admit that Oshitari's company was not necessarily a terrible thing, but she had more than a year of annoyance bordering on hatred to bargain with, and sometimes, when Oshitari just wouldn't shut up, her irritation tipped the scales.

Like today. Ichiki-sensei had reminded them about their graduation trip – like Akiko would have been able to forget, what with everyone chattering on about it all the time. It was Kyoto this and Kyoto that, and Oshitari had had quite a few things to say on the subject himself about his beloved Kansai region.

Of course, the issue of groups came up. Because everything that was school-sanctioned had to encourage team-building and cooperation in some ridiculous form or another. When her homeroom teacher asked whether anybody wasn't in a group, her hand had shot up, but it was the only one that did.

There'd been a lull, during which she hadn't looked around. At all. She'd kept her eyes forward, on Ichiki-sensei, and she would've kept doing that, if she hadn't noticed the slightest movement in the corner of her eye.

Oshitari was looking at her, and Akiko has to ball up the hand that is not in the air so that she doesn't lash out at him because she did not need his pity, and if he thought she was just some poor girl that he had to befriend because nobody else would befriend –

'Akiko-chan can join our group!'

Her head spun around to face the girl who'd given her the water bottle, and really, why did she keep on calling her Akiko-chan? She knew what the girl's name was – or well, at least what her family name was – but Akiko didn't feel a need to keep on yelling it aloud.

'Sounds good, Hayashi!' Ichiki-sensei said in the same buoyant tone as the other girl had. 'Is that OK with you, Takahashi?' After seeing Akiko's nod, the brunet clapped his hands. 'Now, everyone – I'll give you some time to discuss where you want to go with your group during free time. Make sure to check the hand-out for what you should all be bringing next week!'

The class got up from their seats so quickly it felt like a minor earthquake had occurred, and in what seemed like no time at all, Akiko was surrounded by three other girls her age. Hayashi – water bottle girl – was there, along with slightly off-tune Ueda and loose socks Tanaka.

'I don't think we've really spoken much before, so I'm Takahashi Akiko.' Akiko had stood up, and bowed to her cohort.

Hayashi broke out into a fit of giggles, and was accompanied by her peers. 'A-Akiko-chan,' she spluttered, giggles only partly subsided, 'you don't have to be so formal! Just call me Minako-chan.'

'Minako-san then,' Akiko compromised, because she really didn't want to be assimilated into the giggling schoolgirl faction and so wasn't going to adopt their cutesy appellations. 'On the note of Kyoto, I don't really have any preferences as to where to go, so you three can decide.' She sat back down in her chair, and let her fellow group members' chatter wash over her until the final bell rang.

'And we should check out – Akiko-chan? Where are you going?' Tanaka spoke up, giving Akiko a bit of a pout. Why was she pouting?

'Infirmary duties.' She smiled apologetically. Because smiles could definitely be apologetic. 'I'll see you tomorrow, Minako-san...' What were the given names of the others? '...and company,' she finished rather shabbily. Akiko marched out the door before any of them could utter a response.

'Oi, Takahashi!'

For a moment, she thought one of the girls was yelling at her because she'd forgotten their name, and, a little bit panicked, she began walking at a faster pace. Maybe she could feign deafness.

Then she realised that that none of the girls would call her that.

And that the voice was decidedly male.

Akiko made an about turn on her heels, and sure enough, Oshitari was jogging after her. Because who else would it be?

'Oshitari-san,' she said, greeting her classmate with a nod. 'What is it?' She was smiling, because that was what you did when people unexpectedly called out to you when you didn't want to talk to them because they wanted to talk to you because they felt bad about your being a loner with no friends.

'Why are you smiling like that?' He paused. 'Actually, never mind that. I have practice now, so. Takahashi.' He stopped talking again. It was like listening to a scratched record.

'If any of the girls are – well, if the girls say anything to you that isn't appropriate, tell me.' And now he was looking at her from his slightly higher vantage point, like she was somebody who would need help from bullies because she didn't know how to deal with them. Obviously, she wouldn't be in a group with people who could tolerate her company.

Akiko held up one finger.

'First of all, why would they say anything of the sort to me? We were getting along fine, thank you very much.'

She held up another finger.

'Second of all, even if they were, it'd be none of your business, so go to tennis practice, Oshitari-san.'

And leave me alone, she didn't say. If Oshitari were even the slightest bit psychic, he would have picked up on it anyway because she wasn't exactly trying to muffle her thoughts. Even if he hadn't figured it out, he definitely did when she brushed past him, because she had been walking in the wrong direction in the first place and still needed to get to the infirmary, meddling Oshitari or not.

.

One week passed quickly in rather awkward conversations, because no matter what Akiko said, Oshitari brushed it off. He was like a superhuman rudeness duster or something, and always waved aside whatever terrible thing Akiko said (like 'it'd be none of your business', for one).

It was actually kind of irritating. Akiko would feel better if he'd just blow up at her and leave her alone, because she couldn't understand why the heck he would put up with her. She sure as heck wouldn't have if she'd treated herself in the same manner, even though she wasn't deliberately trying to get him to leave her alone. Or maybe she was. She didn't know what she was doing, and that was very disquieting.

It was in this way that the two of them ended up in Kyoto: one of them vaguely unsettled and the other just vague. Akiko's group members didn't help very much with her mood either, since they shared Oshitari's quality of incessant talking. When one's mouth shut, another's opened. It was like walking with a bunch of – well, a bunch of high school girls.

'So, Akiko-chan, how's beautification committee?' one of the girls asked. Tanaka.

'Very invigorating, thank you,' Akiko replied, setting a brisk pace for the three others in her group. They had free time now, and though the others had said they should 'just walk around', Akiko didn't want to get stuck in a crowd because everybody else had decided to 'just walk around' as well.

Ueda giggled. 'I don't think I've ever heard anybody use the word "invigorating" in a conversation before. "Invigorating".'

Before Ueda could continue on her tangent, Hayashi said, smiling slightly, 'I'm glad. I've been feeling so bad about quitting; knowing you're on beautification committee makes me less worried.'

Akiko raised an eyebrow. 'Minako-san, you were the previous committee member?'

'Yes,' Hayashi answered, nodding. 'But I couldn't do it. It was just really – well, a lot of things happened, and... Well.'

So Hayashi was the reason Akiko was stuck with Oshitari. Akiko had to fight the urge to say something rather unpleasant, biting her lip to keep any words from spilling out.

If Hayashi had been on the beautification committee, that meant Hayashi and Oshitari had been committee members together for half of a year. They had to be friendly with each other. Acquaintances, at least. And since Oshitari seemed to think it was his job or something to make sure Akiko didn't spend any time alone at school...

Was that why Hayashi had volunteered to let Akiko join her group? Because Oshitari had asked her to?

'Akiko-chan? Hello?'

Hayashi was waving a hand in front of her face.

'You just stopped walking, so – '

'Do you know how irresponsible it is to abandon your responsibilities halfway through the year, Hayashi-san?'

Wait. She had said that aloud. Why was she speaking aloud?

'Because of your inability to do what you signed up for, others have been inconvenienced.'

She didn't mean that – well, she did, but –

'Just because Hyoutei is an elevator school does not mean that you can slack off and not do your duty as a proper Hyoutei student.'

These were the sorts of things that always crossed Akiko's mind, but –

Hayashi looked shell-shocked, as did Tanaka and Ueda. A couple bystanders looked the same, because apparently Akiko hadn't exactly been speaking quietly.

Say something. Anything. Just fix this. Apologise and return to your status as a prickly non-entity in class 3-A, Akiko told herself, but she had chosen now of all times to clam up. Why couldn't she have been so reticent before?

Tanaka and Ueda had stepped in front of Hayashi, like human shields. The number of passers-by stopping to watch what was happening was increasing as well.

'I – '

She didn't know what to say, because she had just said everything that was on her mind and none of it had been good. Why did she always do this? This was why she didn't talk to people; this was why she couldn't deal with her classmates; this was why –

It was at this moment that Oshitari swooped in.

'Hayashi, do you mind?' His voice was smooth, as per usual. 'I just have some committee business with Takahashi that I forgot to talk about earlier.'

'No, n-not at all,' Hayashi replied, blinking rapidly. 'Go right ahead.'

'Minako!' Tanaka said, sounding – outraged? Akiko didn't know. All she did know was that she was now being tugged away by the arm by a rather insistent Oshitari.

Oshitari led her to a side street, where he finally let go of her arm. 'Sorry. I didn't think they'd be so quick about it.'

'What?' Clearly she was not on the same channel. 'Quick?' After a moment: 'They?'

'Hayashi, Tanaka and Ueda,' Oshitari explained. He leant against one of the buildings, looking towards the main street. 'Hayashi confessed to me a couple weeks ago, and I rejected her, so I was worried her friends might...' His voice trailed off. He was still resolutely looking out from the alleyway, as if he was worried Tanaka and Ueda might ambush them at any moment.

'What does that have to do with me?' Akiko asked, a bit maddened. Did he think he was saving some damsel in distress? She'd been the one breathing fire down Hayashi's neck – it would've been more appropriate for him to jump in for Hayashi's sake. Why was he treating like this when –

'It doesn't matter, anyway' she continued, interrupting her own thoughts. 'Since I don't like any of them.' She left unsaid the fact that probably none of them liked her very much either, especially after that outburst.

'You can't mean that,' Oshitari replied, in a jocular tone that was so self-assured.

'But I do,' Akiko countered, because Oshitari was just wrong. Even if she hadn't meant to say her thoughts about Hayashi aloud, that didn't make them any less true. Tanaka always spoke an octave too high in a grating voice and Ueda was a gossip who had nothing better to do than talk behind others' backs.

Oshitari turned back to look at her, still leaning against the wall. 'You can't mean that,' he repeated. 'You don't know anything about them. Had you even talked to them before joining their group for the Kyoto trip?'

'Their characters were evident without having to talk to them,' Akiko said sharply, and even before she finished the sentence, she knew she had said too much.

And then Oshitari said something that caught Akiko absolutely unawares.

'At first I thought you just hated me irrationally, but then it turns out you treat everybody the same way.'

'What?' Akiko stared at Oshitari, but he looked completely serious. 'That's – that's preposterous. My dislike for you – ' Her dislike for him? She needed to regain her composure. 'I mean to say, it is apparent now that the reason for Hayashi-san's resignation from beautification committee is entirely frivolous, since it was your refusal that instigated it. Tanaka-san and Ueda-san are no better; dissent starts at the level of the individual student and creates an atmosphere that is not conducive to learning and...' She wasn't making any sense, even to herself.

'You know those reasons are just petty,' Oshitari responded, eyes narrowed behind the lenses of his glasses. 'Which is why you're throwing around a lot of big words to hide that. Just admit you don't have any reason to dislike – them.'

'Well – well, I'm not the one going around telling girls they've just met they have pretty legs!' Akiko blurted this out without thinking. It was only afterwards that she realised what she said.

Oshitari's face visibly blanched, to the point that it was only a shade or two darker than the wall behind him. 'What are you talking about?'

'First day of class, second year. You were talking with Mukahi-san and – ' She hadn't meant to say this but now that she had started she couldn't stop. She could remember exactly how the conversation had gone. After the opening ceremony, she had walked up to the second floor for the first time ever, when it had finally sunk in that she was a second-year student. She had resolved to be even more invisible than in first year, since she had had a series of altercations with her homeroom teacher before the winter break that she had never been forgiven for.

After getting to the classroom, they had all drawn seats, and she had ended up by the window. A symbol of good fortune for the rest of the year, she had thought. She had taken out all her books and sat down, and then they'd done their introductions. It was at lunchtime that she had looked around to survey her class members, with her eyes pausing on a short redhead sitting on top of a desk while eating bread. A flagrant violation of school rules, she noted, before moving on, when a tall young man had caught her eye and smirked. Sauntered over to her, away from the short redhead sitting on a desk. Made a slight bow from the waist.

'Takahashi, right? I'm Oshitari Yuushi, and I must say, you have very nice legs.'

Which brought her back to the present, where the young man who would say such crass things to a girl he'd just met stood, mouth agape. It took him a while to snap it shut, and even then, it wasn't shut for long.

'So you've disliked me for over a year just because of one comment I made?' Oshitari sounded incredulous, and when he put it that way, it made it seem so trivial but it wasn't. Akiko was a runner, and he had belittled all the hard work she'd put into her legs by objectifying them and she wasn't going to stand down on this one. She couldn't. This was one judgement she knew she had made correctly.

Oshitari was glaring at her now, but she glared right back. She didn't say anything, because she didn't feel the need to justify herself in this circumstance. Oshitari was the one who broke eye contact first, and then he marched out of the alley back into the well-lit main street, leaving Akiko by herself in the dark.

.

It was now day four of Akiko's Kyoto trip. So far, she had managed to talk to four of her classmates and, well, thoroughly displease four of them. Sadly, that wasn't actually a new record for her. (She very decidedly did not think about her third year at her junior high; luckily for her, she'd had to move and switched into Hyoutei.)

Hayashi was still steadfast in her efforts to include Akiko in the group's excursions, though her two friends were decidedly not so forgiving. Not that Akiko begrudged them for it, but it made nights in their hotel room rather tense.

It was for that reason that Akiko had excused herself, claiming a desire to look at the hotel facilities. The door hadn't even closed before she heard Tanaka's high-pitched voice muttering, 'I can't believe she still hasn't apologised to you, Minako!' She could still hear her after the door was closed; Tanaka's voice carried well. 'This is totally making our graduation trip a bummer!'

Akiko walked away so she wouldn't have to listen to more. Tanaka's voice was really too annoying, especially when she could speak at a perfectly normal pitch (normal being relative to other normal high school girls, who all spoke with relatively high pitches, it seemed). She had some change anyway, so she decided to pop by the vending machine and see whether there were any new regional flavours she could try.

Rounding the corner, she spotted the vending machines she'd noted the location of earlier. She also saw somebody using it. A familiar somebody who was looking back at her, in a rather deer-in-the-headlights fashion.

'Takahashi!' her homeroom teacher exclaimed. 'What are you doing here?' His eyes flickered between her and the vending machine.

'Isn't it past curfew, sensei?' Akiko asked point-blank. 'The itinerary begins at seven tomorrow, so you should sleep earlier.'

Ichiki-sensei looked flustered. 'I was just – Takahashi, I should be the one saying that!' His hand was hovering over the vending machine's buttons. An alcoholic beverage vending machine, at that.

'Sensei, I am very sure that in the hand-out regarding rules that alcohol is prohibited on this trip,' Akiko said, crossing her arms. 'I realise that I am not supposed to be out after curfew either, but that doesn't excuse you, Ichiki-sensei.'

Her teacher bit his lip, and glanced over at the vending machine again. 'You know what, we can just keep our misdemeanours between us, Takahashi. I'm sure you don't want to miss out on free time tomorrow.' With sudden resolve, he punched a button on the vending machine, and then there was a clang at the bottom of the machine. 'I don't think that alcohol rule should apply to teachers anyway.'

'Anyway,' Ichiki-sensei continued, 'I've noticed Oshitari's been a bit glum the past few days, and you haven't been your usual chipper self either, Takahashi. Anything happen?' He grabbed a can of beer from the vending machine, and pulled the tab, so that the sound of fizzing echoed through the hall. 'I realise that it's a weird thing for your teacher to ask, but I just want all my students to enjoy their graduation trip.' He sat down on the couch beside the vending machine, with the rim of the beer can at his lips.

'Oshitari's glumness and my ... ' Chipper? Really? 'And my emotional state have no correlation, sensei,' Akiko replied. She walked towards the non-alcoholic vending machine herself and punched the button for a chilled can of barley tea. Not exactly an October drink, but she was in the mood for something relaxing.

To her surprise, not one, but two cans came out. She took both of them out. Maybe she would save one for the ride back tomorrow.

'Two cans? That's a sign, Takahashi!' Ichiki-sensei said with a laugh. 'Even if they have no correlation, as you put it, even the universe is telling you to just kiss and make up. Because, seriously, both of you look like you've been having more fun with each other around – Kisaichi-sensei said the same thing just the other day.

'Sensei, I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think it is any of your business,' Akiko said in a very civil tone.

Ichiki-sensei just laughed again. 'Sorry, Takahashi, but it is. I'm your teacher, which makes it my job to care about you and all the rest of my students. That makes whatever's getting you and Oshitari down my business. Try to settle things before we have to head back, OK?'

Her teacher took another swig of his beer before standing up. 'Now, it's really past curfew, so I'll be heading back, and you should too!' He ruffled her hair, but she didn't make even a token protest. 'Tell your group mates to get to sleep too, since we've got an early start to our day tomorrow.'

It was very strange. Ichiki-sensei had already been meddlesome before, but Akiko had never attributed that to _caring_. That a teacher's job was to teach was a given, but genuine concern about students wasn't something Akiko would have listed under a teacher's job requirements.

The memory of Oshitari's giving her a book cover came, unbidden, to the forefront of her mind.

.

The memory stayed in its position as the foremost of Akiko's thoughts even after she returned to her hotel room, and continued to do so even when the time came to return home. It was still there when she was standing outside Hyoutei with all her luggage, unsheltered from the rain, and when she decided to walk home instead of taking the train. Instead of thinking 'Maybe I should take out an umbrella', Akiko was thinking 'Why did Oshitari give me a book cover?' and ended up at her flat soaked to the skin. The concierge had taken one look at her and insisted on taking her bags up for her, but not before calling one of the staff to get her a cup of warm tea. She didn't drink it though, instead wondering how much time Oshitari had put into sewing the book cover he'd given her. It was already dark by the time Gotou suggested that she return to her flat and change into dry clothes.

Akiko did as she was told, mindlessly taking the elevator back to her rooms. Bagel was waiting for her at the door, but Akiko just patted Bagel distractedly on the head once before sitting on one of the chairs at the dining table. She knew that she should probably change clothes like Gotou had said, but she just felt so tired.

By the time Akiko finally got out of the chair, it was already Saturday morning, and she sat back down almost immediately because of the dizzy feeling in her head.

Bagel had rushed to her side the moment she gripped the table for balance, standing pressed against Akiko's legs as if to keep her from falling.

'Morning, Bagel,' Akiko murmured. Her voice was hoarse. Already half-certain of what was occurring, Akiko held the back of her hand to her forehead. It was unquestionably warmer than it should have been.

She was definitely sick, and it was, without doubt, because she had walked home in the rain. She didn't even know why she had done it when she usually got to and from school by train, but she had, and now she had to live with the consequences. She'd have to forgo her usual run today, for the first time since she'd enrolled in Hyoutei.

Bagel would still need his exercise though. Akiko forced herself to stand up, with Bagel always right beside her. She headed for the telephone, and dialled front desk.

'Good morning, Gotou-san. It's Takahashi. Would it be possible to have a staff member run with Bagel this weekend? Possibly Monday as well. I'm running a fever – no, it's nothing that a weekend of rest won't fix; I just want to make sure I'm better before class next week. Thank you very much.'

She hung up, and sank into the couch. 'Bagel,' she said, nudging her dog away from her, 'I'm a bit sick, and I don't want you to catch it, so you'll have to run with someone else for the next couple of days, OK?' Bagel stared at her. 'Go get your leash, would you?' Bagel didn't budge.

The doorbell rang, so Akiko called out, 'Please just let yourself in!' One of the staff opened the door, wearing a hospital mask. 'Bagel,' Akiko said to her dog, 'go!' She nudged him again, and finally, Bagel trotted off, but not before turning his head to look back at his owner once.

Only after she heard the door lock did Akiko close her eyes again. Though she didn't believe in divine retribution, it certainly felt like it.

It was no small mockery that the last thing Akiko saw before falling back asleep was the book she had left on the side table, with Oshitari's hand-sewn cover.

.

Monday came with little fanfare, which signalled the return of good health for Akiko. Sunday had been a little dreadful, with dizzy spells and soup for every meal. Bagel had been in a bit of a strop as well, since he'd been exiled from the bedroom while Akiko was sick. She would have to wash all the linens before sleeping tonight, or the germs would just stick around and infect her again and possibly Bagel as well.

Mercifully, Hayashi and company said nothing to her, though Ueda very pointedly didn't look at her and Tanaka had glowered outright. Oshitari, on the other hand, had made his way towards her the moment he stepped into the classroom.

She readied herself for whatever he might have to say, coming up with responses for each possibility. However, she had no proper reaction for what actually came out of his mouth.

'Takahashi, are you not feeling well? '

'I'm fine,' she said immediately, because she was. She hadn't been fine at all the past weekend, but she was fine now. The question was why Oshitari would be asking about her health, since it suggested that he knew she had been sick, which didn't make any sense. At all.

'Oh, that's great,' Oshitari said with a relieved sigh. 'I was worried because – '

'Why were you worried?' Akiko asked, when Oshitari didn't elaborate. 'How did you know – ' Akiko shut up, because Oshitari's answer didn't matter.

Oshitari stood in front of her desk for a moment, before turning around. Thinking he was going to leave, Akiko flipped open her books, but Oshitari turned right back around again.

'We've got a few minutes before class.' Oshitari was smirking, or at least there was a semblance of a smirk on his face. It didn't feel appropriate for the situation though, and it wasn't his usual smirk either. When he said, 'Come with me for a bit?' it was after a pregnant pause that Akiko didn't understand the purpose of.

People were staring at them now, so Akiko didn't want to make a scene. She complied, standing up as quickly as she could and pushing her chair in lightly so that the legs wouldn't screech against the floor.

Oshitari walked in front of her, saying nothing. Akiko wanted to ask where they were going, and why they were going there, and what Oshitari could possibly have to say to her that couldn't be said in the classroom, but she stayed silent as well, even when Oshitari pushed open the door to the school roof which was off-limits.

Oshitari continued walking, until he was at the fence at the edge of the roof. Turning around, he looked at Akiko, only to look away again.

'I have a confession to make.' Oshitari's voice was quiet, but steady. That was ominous. It was very, very ominous. Akiko had had people tell her they had confessions to make before, and nothing good had ever come out of it. It was the sort of thing people said before they admitted to committing a murder or burning a house down or having a very important meeting at the same time as her piano recital.

Then, Oshitari said:

'I jog with you every morning.'

That wasn't what she'd expected to hear.

.

.

.

**6. lack of agreement or harmony**

****And that's chapter six, folks! I was having trouble figuring out where to end this chapter and said, to hell with it, I'm ending it here. Thanks for reading! -awintea


	7. restart

Though I've sworn off reading fanfiction for the time to show support for a friend who's given it up for Lent, I never said I would stop writing it, so here is chapter 7! Very little stuff happens, actually, but it covers a lot. I think. Hopefully you'll enjoy! I've been thinking about this series of events for a while so I hope it plays through properly. (:

* * *

><p><strong>with a little love and sunshine<strong>

* * *

><p>Yuushi let out a long, dramatic sigh as he sat on a bench outside of the train station. He had gotten up especially early to train a bit before heading for the opening ceremony, but it seemed like he wasn't going to have time today, since he still hadn't found a place to run, even after walking from one train station to the next. If he found a good track now, he could probably have run it completely and still had time to return home to change into his uniform, but since he didn't actually know Tokyo that well, he wasn't going to risk it. He really didn't want to be late on his first day, especially since he was transferring into an elevator school. Not that Yuushi was worried about not being able to make friends – no, he was rather good at being absolutely, stunningly charming – but the image he was going for wouldn't allow for something as sloppy as being late to the opening ceremony. It wasn't the sort of standing out he wanted to do.<p>

No, he would do that at the tennis club. That was the first thing Yuushi would look for once clubs started recruiting. That was also why he was keen to find a place to train in the morning as well – it would be good to get back into a routine now that he had finally settled in at his new home.

Wait. What was that?

Out of the corner of his eye, Yuushi spotted a girl dressed in gym wear, with a large dog trotting beside her. Clearly she was heading out for some sort of athletic activity, but what? From the looks of it, she was probably going for a run, which definitely piqued Yuushi's interest. A smirk had already fallen into place on Yuushi's face as he jogged leisurely towards the girl, when she turned into a narrow street.

'Hey!' he called out, unthinkingly. Luckily, the girl hadn't heard him. He watched her figure walking briskly with her dog and wondered if it would be creepy to follow her.

He did it anyway, though not closely enough that she would think he was following him. There were two other people dressed in sporty clothing as well, anyway. Clearly, he was heading in the right direction.

Soon, he arrived at a moat – Yuushi remembered his mother telling him that they lived near the Imperial Palace's gardens, and looking across the moat, he was sure that was what he was seeing. Where else in Tokyo would there be such a large green space? There were some hedges as well, and the air was refreshing. The two people besides him and the girl that had also been on the narrow street started to jog, and –

The girl had disappeared.

How?

Already?

Yuushi scanned his surroundings quickly. There were actually quite a few runners – more than he'd expected – but not that many dogs, Yuushi realised. In fact, there was only one dog, and he recognised it as the dog he saw before. He started jogging towards it, but as the runners were all in single file, he could not get closer. It would have been rude to overtake them, after all.

The runners were at a gentle pace – not too slow, but not too fast, either. Yuushi stole a quick glance at his watch to see how he was doing on time, but decided that it was probably OK to follow the course. He still had plenty of time, and since the girl he saw earlier was school-age as well, he could figure out when it was necessary to duck out of the line when she did, since presumably she also had school to attend.

His eyes fell on the girl again when there was a turn in the road. A couple of runners ahead, Yuushi could tell that she was a regular runner. Unlike the person in front of Yuushi, she had kept good posture and was not breathing heavily, and her legs were runner's legs. Lean, but not terribly so, and Yuushi could see the shape of muscles beneath –

Yuushi was suddenly not on pavement any more, and with the sudden change in the surface beneath his feet, he tripped and ended up with his bum on the grass. One of the runners that had been behind him looked worried and slowed his pace, but Yuushi waved him on.

He looked forward along the track, but the girl was long gone.

He sighed and checked his watch. He still had time before he absolutely had to go, but Yuushi decided to head back anyway, so he could check out how the route around the Imperial Palace looked and see how long it was. Yuushi had a good feeling about it though – it was always nicer to run with greenery around you, and though there had been other runners, there hadn't been too many.

He turned back towards the street he had come from, walking on the opposite side of the road so as to not block any of the runners. He would take the train back home, just so he had a bit more time before he had to go to school, even though the distance was really not that great.

A girl running with her dog was a rather graceful image, though.

Perhaps he would see her again.

...is what Yuushi had idly thought, but in his mind, he hadn't been very set on the idea. After all, he had run with countless other people over the years, but couldn't remember ever running with the same person. He probably had, of course, since people usually jogged in the same places, but Yuushi couldn't recall any such occasion.

And then, against all odds, he had seen her at the opening ceremony, sitting with the first-year students just as Yuushi was. He had almost called her out to her but stopped himself in time. What on earth would he say? 'I followed you this morning'? Somehow, that felt like it could be misconstrued. Maybe he could thank her for leading him to a nice jogging route? No, that was still strange.

Before he knew it, the opening ceremony was already over. When Yuushi returned to his classroom, he looked for the girl, but couldn't spot her. She was in a different class, then.

Maybe he would see her around at school? It was improbable. Hyoutei was fairly large, after all, and the only club he was planning on joining was the tennis club, which was segregated by gender. He would probably see her once or twice, but there wouldn't really but much of a chance to talk.

Ah well. Yuushi turned his attention towards his homeroom teacher, who was talking about regulations and the like, as was necessary on the first day of school. He tuned out most of what was said, but noted when clubs were going to start. He would have to take a look at the tennis club as soon as possible.

With thoughts of playing tennis forefront on his mind, the girl and her dog were soon forgotten.

Until Oshitari saw them running together the next day.

And the day after that.

And every single day after that as well.

.

'I hadn't meant to, but it became a routine to run behind you. There were always other runners, and you never look behind you when you run – a good habit, by the way – so you never noticed. You'd never missed two days in a row before, so I was concerned when I didn't spot you this weekend.'

Oshitari finally finished speaking and looked towards Akiko, who hadn't said a word the whole time Oshitari had been talking.

What Oshitari said –

That would mean –

Akiko imagined the situation. You finally learnt the name of a girl you'd been running with for a year now, though she hadn't known you'd been running. You were the sort of guy who said what was on his mind, so after hearing introductions during that first second-year class, you sauntered over and introduced yourself. Of course, you couldn't leave it at that. You'd been running with this girl for a year, so you make a comment about it.

'Takahashi, right? I'm Oshitari Yuushi, and I must say, you have very nice legs.'

Akiko had to pick her words carefully. 'So, what you're saying is. About the first day of second year.'

Oshitari looked almost abashed. 'I had meant it as a compliment. I mean, not in the way you took it. I just wanted to say you had nice runner's legs, but I couldn't say that since then I'd have to explain that I'd been running with you for a year without even asking for your name. I had been planning to tell you about it, but then... Well, you hadn't exactly seemed like you wanted to listen to anything I had to say.'

Akiko almost raised her voice to object, but there was nothing to actually object to.

'Anyway, I've been meaning to make up with you because I had been really harsh during the school trip.' With a frown on his face, Oshitari ran a hand through his hair. 'I didn't have the right to say the things that I said, since I don't know you that well either – I did the same thing you did, so I apologise. I won't bother you anymore, and I won't run along the same route either, so you don't have to worry about it. I was looking for you there this weekend and this morning to tell you that, but you didn't show up, so I had to wait until now.'

Then, he bowed. Oshitari bowed. Properly. To Akiko.

Oshitari Yuushi bowed to Takahashi Akiko.

'I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you.'

Oshitari stood up again and nodded at her once, before heading for the door that led back into the building.

What was going on here?

From below her feet, she heard the school chimes, but Akiko didn't register what it meant until the chimes stopped.

'We have to get back to class!' she exclaimed, only to realise that nobody was listening. She was alone on the roof.

She really did have to get back.

.

It was Monday, which meant that Oshitari had tennis practice after school. Akiko had school infirmary committee duties, but she could finish them quickly enough, if she focussed. However, she was finding it rather hard to focus on anything at all after Oshitari's bizarre confession.

What kind of person jogged with a random person every morning? It was one thing to be on the same route as somebody, but – well, actually, that was what Oshitari was doing. It wasn't like they met up every morning and chatted while jogging and then went out for juice afterwards.

It still felt very intrusive. Akiko had done the exact same thing Oshitari had done on his first day of school, but she had found the route on her own. She'd just moved to Chiyoda to attend Hyoutei about a week before school started, and had scoured the area for good tracks. She'd come across the Imperial Palace jogging route, and that had been her morning jog ever since. All Oshitari had had to do was follow her to it and –

Well. It wasn't like it was her route. That is, it was her route, but it wasn't hers alone. She always jogged along with other people, after all.

Having Oshitari was different though, For one thing, she really didn't like him –

But she had misunderstood. Which wasn't her fault. What he said was really misleading, so anyone would have taken it the wrong way. It was perfectly logical for her to be angry about it –

But she could have asked him then what he had meant, and then he would have told her. Instead, she never voiced her discontent and disliked him for a year and a half because of a misinterpretation.

If she had to sum it up in one sentence, and of course, doing so would obviously leave out a few important details, but to get to the crux of the issue in a to-the-point manner...

She had been wrong. That was all there was to it, in the end.

She hated being wrong, but now that she knew she had been, she had to rectify things, which meant that she would focus on her infirmary duties even if it killed her, so she could get to the school gates before Oshitari finished tennis practice.

And she did. She got to the school gates a full twenty minutes before Oshitari walked through them, chatting away with Mukahi. Mukahi spotted Akiko before Oshitari did, and waved cheerfully. Oshitari turned his head and looked far more surprised than Akiko thought he should have.

Giving a terse nod to both Mukahi and Oshitari in greeting, Akiko said, 'Oshitari-san, I'll have you know it is very rude to go about making decisions without asking the people who are involved in the result their opinion.'

'Takahashi? What are you doing here?'

Akiko thought it was very clear that she was here to speak to Oshitari, which was why she'd spoken to him. However, that wasn't the point. 'I was thinking about what you said, and now I'm done thinking, so I am going to tell you what my opinion is, since you didn't ask for it. Which was very rude.'

'...You said that already.'

'I wanted to make sure you understood.'

Oshitari raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Mukahi shifted about rather awkwardly, glancing back and forth between Oshitari and Akiko. 'Hey, actually, Yuushi, I think I'll be heading back first I've got stuff to do 'K bye then!'

And he was gone, before Oshitari could even say, 'Gakkun.' What was that all about?

It didn't matter. Akiko shook her head to regain her focus. 'Oshitari-san, come to my house.'

'What?'

That had been crass of her. 'I apologise. What I meant to say was "Oshitari-san, if it would not trouble you, would you please come to my house?" – is that better?'

Oshitari had the nerve to look bewildered. 'That's not better at all. Why are you asking me to go to your house?' After Akiko had gone out of her way to –

Well, if he didn't want to, fine. She had stuck out an olive branch (which he hadn't even bothered to offer, by the way), and he had ignored it. 'I'm going home. If you don't want to follow me, fine.'

Akiko walked away purposefully, ignoring Oshitari's yelling towards her. After a moment, she could hear his footsteps behind her.

'Takahashi, I don't – '

Akiko continued ignoring Oshitari, because she didn't want to answer his question. She knew what he was going to say, so she tuned him out. Even if she listened to it, she wouldn't reply.

She wasn't sure what she'd say, anyway.

.

'Welcome home, Takahashi-sama – and company. If I may take your bags?'

Gotou got over his slip rather quickly, returning to proper concierge mode after only a short pause. Meanwhile, Oshitari looked around and let out a low whistle.

'This is pretty nice, Takahashi. Could you secretly be like Atobe?'

Secretly be like Atobe? What did that even mean? She continued to deliberately not respond to Oshitari and spoke to Gotou instead. 'That would be lovely, thank you.' She handed her bag over to the concierge.

'And your guest?'

'He'll be leaving soon, so don't worry about it.'

Gotou nodded and took the bag away. Akiko headed for the lifts, but Oshitari was still standing in the same place.

'Oshitari-san, if you aren't going to follow me, please just go home,' Akiko said, feeling a little bit irritated now because she was going to all this trouble and Oshitari wasn't even trying to appreciate it. Even if he didn't understand, he could at least oblige her.

'You are definitely like Atobe,' Oshitari muttered, but he did as she said. She still didn't know what he meant by that.

Once in the lift, Oshitari started to try to make conversation again, probably bolstered by Akiko's brief comment earlier. 'This place really feels like a hotel, what with the concierge and all. Very well kept, too.'

Since it was a harmless topic, Akiko decided to participate. 'It should be well kept, since rent is three hundred ninety thousand yen a month.'

There was a strange thumping sound behind her. Apparently, Oshitari had dropped his bag on to the floor.

'What?' she said, turning to her classmate.

'What, you say – are you living in a 5LDK? Three hundred – three hundred – '

'Three hundred ninety thousand yen a month,' Akiko repeated, frowning. 'Did you not hear me the first time?'

The lift made a quiet ding, and the doors opened. Akiko stepped out, but Oshitari still seemed a bit shell-shocked. 'Oshitari-san, are you coming or not?' Akiko said, her tone belying the attempt at a smile on her face.

Oshitari nodded dumbly and followed her to the door leading to her flat. She adeptly pulled her key out and unlocked the door, opening it at the same time.

'Please take off your shoes here,' she instructed. 'I know it's a Western-style apartment, but I still don't allow shoes in the flat – oh! Bagel, I missed you today!' Shoes still on her feet, Akiko bent down and gave her dog a hug. 'Did housekeeping take you out so that you could go for your run?' Bagel barked once in response, and Akiko smiled properly. 'I'm so sorry I haven't been running with you lately, but I promise that tomorrow I'll head out and... Bagel? What is it?'

Bagel was staring up at – oh, wait, Oshitari was still here. Still hugging Bagel, Akiko turned her head as well and saw Oshitari staring down at her like she was a completely different person. Meanwhile, Bagel looked wary as he stared at this other person who had entered into their home.

'It's fine, Bagel,' Akiko said resolutely, facing her dog once more. 'He's a friend.'

At this, Bagel relaxed, while Oshitari started. She rubbed Bagel's back before standing up again, but she didn't turn around.

'I will admit that some of what you said was true,' Akiko began, addressing Oshitari without looking at him. 'My dislike for you was, though not irrational, somewhat inappropriate, though you were also at fault for not saying things directly.' Not letting Oshitari rebut, Akiko continued, 'I'm quick in judging people, I admit, but that is because usually my judgements are right.' Akiko paused. How did Oshitari look right now? Did he want to speak? Complain? Object? But he said nothing, so she pressed onwards. 'However, I was wrong this time, so I apologise as well for what I said earlier and for disliking you for over a year without a proper reason.

'I am suggesting a probationary friend period wherein I can determine if there is a better reason for me to dislike you, and if there is, then that's the end, Oshitari-san. Understood?'

And she had said it. Everything she had wanted to say. She had been wrong. She admitted it. Now, she was going to fix things.

She finally turned on her heels, and saw –

'What are you smiling about?' Akiko demanded. Oshitari was practically biting on his lip to stop himself from laughing

'You!' And now Oshitari wasn't even trying to suppress his humour. 'Takahashi, you're just – you're unbelievable, is what you are.'

Akiko crossed her arms, and it took all of her willpower not to glower. 'Oshitari-san, I don't know if you realise this, but I just offered you my friendship, which isn't something many people get, but since I was the person who was wrong in the first place, I'm allowing it. This is a big deal, and you're just making fun of me!'

At this, Oshitari immediately shut up, looking – distressed? Akiko didn't know. 'I didn't mean for you take it that way,' Oshitari said carefully, and then Akiko was the one feeling distressed. Did she just do the exact same thing she'd done in April of last year? 'It's only because I've never have such a proposition before. Usually people don't ask to become friends or anything; it just happens.'

'That seems like a very unsystematic ways of doing things,' Akiko said, sounding distinctly snipey even though she hadn't meant to. At this, Oshitari looked like he wanted to laugh again, but he didn't.

'So. Probationary,' Oshitari commented.

Akiko nodded. 'I decided that I didn't give you a fair chance to prove yourself, so you are on probation until further notice.'

'How do I get off probation?'

'If I don't like you,' Akiko stated matter-of-factly.

Oshitari smirked. 'Shouldn't I get promoted for good behaviour after a certain amount of time?'

'Don't get ahead of yourself,' Akiko snapped. Suddenly, Bagel stepped forward so that he was between Akiko and Oshitari.

'Oh, Bagel, it's nothing; don't worry,' Akiko immediately said, reassuring her dog with a smile. She petted him on the head and touched a finger to his nose. 'I'll make you extra yummy food tomorrow morning before jogging since you've been so good, OK?' Bagel seemed appeased, as he trotted off towards the living and dining room.

Then, something came to mind.

'If it's fine by you, Oshitari-san, let's jog together tomorrow,' she said determinedly. There was no point in doing things halfway.

Oshitari looked surprised, but he still nodded. 'I'd like that.' After a pause: 'I take back what I said about your legs in first year, as well.'

An odd non sequitur, but Akiko was willing to follow the tangent.

'I don't think I'm going to let you do that, Oshitari-san,' she said with a shake of her head.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, now that I know it's a compliment about my perseverance, I like what you've said. Which is part of the reason why I offered to let you be friends with me in the first place.'

And then Oshitari's lips turned up in the smallest smile, and just like that, though Akiko really had no actual evidence, she felt like things might work out, and she found herself smiling too.

Oshitari seemed to be oblivious to Akiko's mini epiphany though, and said, rather absentmindedly, 'After I was planning on giving up too.'

The smiles had already disappeared from both of their faces. 'So you were talking to me all this time to try to fix this misunderstanding?' Akiko raised an eyebrow. 'That's rather admirable, Oshitari-san.'

Oshitari chuckled, 'You can put it that way.'

'Anyway, that's all I had to say,' Akiko finished. They were still standing in the entranceway – the door had been open the entire time. Hopefully she hadn't bothered any of her neighbours, since she and Oshitari had been talking rather loudly. What was the custom for when people came over? Akiko hadn't had a single guest ever since she'd moved in, so suddenly, she couldn't remember. Should she make tea? Snacks? Conversation? 'Could you close the door, Oshitari-san? I'll make tea.'

'I wouldn't want to impose,' Oshitari replied, still wearing his shoes.

Akiko shook her head. 'I'm making an effort to be friendly, Oshitari-san. You should as well.'

'But won't your parents be home soon?' Oshitari enquired, eyes flickering towards the clock on the wall.

Akiko shook her head again. 'I live alone, so the only person you'll be annoying is me.' That came out wrong. 'That is, you wouldn't be an imposition to me, and there's nobody else to impose.'

For some reason, this didn't seem to reassure Oshitari at all. 'You live alone, Takahashi?'

It would be unfriendly of Akiko to point out that she'd already said that, so she didn't. She hadn't been entirely correct, either. 'Well, I live with Bagel.' So as not to confuse Oshitari, she appended, 'My dog.'

'Actually, I have something to do now,' Oshitari said quickly, 'so I'm going to go home.'

Akiko stared at Oshitari, perplexed by his behaviour. Asking now would have probably been too nosy though. 'Fine,' she acquiesced. 'Then I shall see you tomorrow morning – well, I guess we don't have to set a time, since you know when I run anyway. I'll wait for ten minutes before I start running; if you're not there in that timeframe, I'll assume you've changed your mind.'

'I won't,' Oshitari said firmly. 'See you tomorrow, Takahashi.'

And that was that.

.

'Oshitari!'

Akiko waved at her classmate, who was jogging towards her. He halted in his tracks when he heard her though.

'Takahashi – and Bagel,' he greeted back. 'Why no honorific?'

'We're friends now – ' probationary ones ' – so I thought we'd be casual,' Akiko said. She had actually researched this online the night before. 'I already speak casually to you, but dropping the honorific is customary.'

'You're doing it wrong,' Oshitari replied with a smirk. 'Girls usually switch from -san to -kun.'

Akiko refrained from narrowing her eyes, which would have been a sign of – well, not a sign of friendliness. 'I apologise for not being a good representation of the general female populace then, Oshitari_-kun_.'

'Could you say that again with a little less malice?' Oshitari said, sounding rather cheerful despite his words. 'But if you're calling me Oshitari, then I should get to call you by your given name,' he commented. 'If you're being less formal with me, I should be less formal with you, _Akiko-chan_.

'I just got shivers down my spine. Stop that.' Akiko shuddered, closing her eyes for a moment. 'Can't you just call me Takahashi? Akiko-chan makes me sound like one of those girls you – '

She stopped herself, because she had been about to say something extremely judgemental, and she had already made the judgement in her head, but it wasn't quite fair, especially if she was trying to slot Oshitari into a temporary friend category.

'No. That's fine.' Akiko paused and, testing the feel of it on her tongue, added, 'Oshitari-kun.' She paused again. If he was calling her by her given name, she should have free reign to do the same, and the thing about friendship was that it was supposed to be between equals, so...

'Yuushi-kun.'

That was odd. The syllables felt extremely alien on her tongue and, to see if Oshitari felt the same, she looked over, only to see that he was looking away.

'Just stick with Oshitari,' he said, and then he started jogging without her. 'Let's get going.'

'What?' she called out. Oshitari was already quite a ways down the road. 'Oshitari-kun's not good enough for you anymore?'

But Oshitari didn't answer, so Akiko let herself grumble for a bit before jogging afterwards. 'Let's go, Bagel,' she murmured, and Bagel joined her, keeping perfectly with her pace.

.

.

.

**7. to begin anew**

Relevant note: The school transferring thing is just a titbit from a fanbook. Random note: Just to prove how rich Hyoutei students are, their class has trips to Las Vegas and Germany. However, I am not going to be following New Prince of Tennis canon, so Oshitari does not go to the U-17 camp in November. Anyhow, thanks to those of you who have read and a double thanks to those of you who have reviewed! -awintea


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